Ravichandran Ashwin says he has worked Joe Root’s dismissal in his head

Ravichandran Ashwin was yet again the most successful Indian bowler as the visitors finished Day 1 of the 4th test in Mumbai at 288/5. All-rounder Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler were there at the crease. Courtesy a brilliant century by the debutant Keaton Jennings, the visitors won the first two sessions hands down but Ashwin was terrific in the final session to help India claw their way back into the game.

Joe Root who is the most important batsman in the England team was yet again dismissed by Ashwin as he persistently bowled over the wicket and close to the stumps. He was pretty happy with his effort as he finished the day’s play with figures of 4/75.

Speaking on how he planned to dismiss Root, Ashwin said, “I must say I worked that dismissal in my head, because he has got out a lot of times in the slips. In the last three Test matches, we have played, he nicked one in Vizag. He has got a tendency to nick spinners to the slip cordon. I saw him nick Dane Piedt in South Africa. He has done it quite a few times to Nathan Lyon as well. I was just imagining on the first day that this is one of those wickets out of the four Tests we had (on) where edges actually carry to slips. So, I was just mentally working it over and it happened.”

Speaking at the press conference after the day’s play Ashwin answered many questions surrounding the day’s play. Speaking on India’s comeback to take 3 wickets in the post-tea session, Ashwin said,  “I thought, the rewards in that spell came for what I did in the afternoon session. I thought, I bowled a really good spell then to (Keaton) Jennings and Moeen Ali. I got Root out in that spell.”

Ashwin stated that the bowlers were unable to make full use of the conditions especially during the initial moments of the Test match. “It has been a big bat-first always. We knew that we will be up against the odds. We knew that there will be some moisture (in the pitch) in the morning and wanted to capitalise on that, but we couldn’t unfortunately. The afternoon session, I thought, wasn’t all that bad. We gave away only 90-odd runs and took only one wicket obviously. But that was the big wicket of Root. We thought of taking a couple of wickets together and finish the day on four or five down. It would have been nice to finish on six down actually,” the Indian spin ace said.

Ashwin also heaped praises on debutant Keaton Jennings who was dropped by Karun Nair when he was yet to open his account.  “Obviously a debut century is very, very special for him. I just had a weird feeling that when that one at gully popped over Karun, I thought he might have a good day because he has had a great season for Durham this year. So, he has just continued from there. He’s got a very tight defence and looks a very good player.”

Speaking on Shami’s absence, the star spinner said, “He has been one of those go-to bowlers for us to try and break partnerships and also to close out the innings. He’s been fabulous over the last 12 to 15 months. And he’s someone who we definitely missed. I thought if he was around, we could have ended up snapping one or two more wickets.”

Speaking on On-field umpire Paul Reiffel who was unfortunately injured after a throw from Bhuvneshwar Kumar from the deep hit him behind his head, Ashwin said. “I don’t know, I need to check on Paul. How is he? He was definitely rattled after he got hit. Those are the incidents that can look funny from a distance, but he was definitely rattled. Need to keep a check on him. We have had too many such instances in the recent past.” (Ashwin was happy when told that a CT scan had cleared the former Aussie fast bowler)

Ashwin’s four-wicket haul was enough for him to surpass Javagal Srinath’s wicket tally of 236 but the No.1 all-rounder wasn’t aware of that fact. “This is the first time I am hearing it! He was one of the champion bowlers for India and to go past him is definitely (great). It wasn’t on my radar when I started playing cricket, so I am definitely lucky,” India’s premier spinner concluded.