R Ashwin pleased with ‘special century’ at St. Lucia

Ravichandran Ashwin aka R Ashwin smashed a wonderful century, something that allowed the Indians to build a healthy yet slender lead in the first innings of the third Test. Speaking in yet another post-match presser following his fourth ton against the West Indies, Ashwin stated that this was one of the most important knocks in the series, especially given the kind of position they were in at the time. However, the fact that he was able to complete his ton showcased something incredible about R Ashwin himself.

“It is indeed. I mean if we look at the scenario in hindsight later on this could very well be a series-defining knock because we were in some trouble yesterday and there was every chance that we could be skittled out and also I thought it needed a bit of application. It was not like making a hundred back home or anywhere in the world. I’m sure about that because it was definitely not a wicket where you could just plonk your front foot and play through the line. It was a hard-fought day yesterday and it was no different today. We just hope we can capitalise on the rearguard action later tomorrow.”

“When we got together we were in quite a bit of trouble and it was one of the wickets – I don’t know whether it’s improving any bit – where you are not at any time. There was a good chance that you might be nicked off or you might get a good ball anytime. It was very difficult to score. So we went thought and bit the bullet quite hard and wanted to just stick in there even if the runs weren’t quite coming. Obviously, the results came later on. It was a good partnership and both enjoyed each other’s company to be very honest,” Ashwin added.

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Speaking about his partnership with wicket-keeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha, Ashwin said that their partnership was something important in the context of their innings. “Saha expressed himself this morning, he played quite a few shots. To me, it was very important that I hung around because that sort of solidity was very important. We knew we were about 50-60 runs away from any kind of respectability so my game plan was very simple. As I walked in yesterday, I walked in today. I wanted to leave the balls and I wanted to play close to the body. Try and bat time, it was not about knocking off the hundred and going and playing shots, it was all about batting time and trying and stringing partnerships.

When Saha and I were batting, we were communicating about which way the ball was swinging, what the bowler was trying to do. There was a lot of help when the bowlers bowled cross seam, and we’ve communicated to the bowlers and we hope they will find their rhythm tomorrow as well.”

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