Watch: R Ashwin turns pitch inspector ahead of the 1st T20I

India will take on West Indies in a 2-match T20I series at the Central Broward Regional Park, Lauderdale, USA, starting on 27th August. Ahead of the 1st game Ravichandran Ashwin, the Indian off-spinner appeared in the pitch report posted by the BCCI’s official Twitter handle.

However, Ashwin took the task seriously and gave a perfect report of the wicket and also differentiated the pitch on which they practiced and the pitch for the match. “As a bowler, it is very very important to get, what the surface has got. When we are practicing in the side wickets, here was a bit of spin and it was also a bit slow. The pitch at which we practiced is much more darker, it’s really rough, which will make the ball hang on to the wicket a little bit more,” he said about the wicket at which they practiced.

Speaking about the wicket for the match, he said that it looks like a high scoring wicket as it is solid and will skid on to the match. But a closer look suggests that a lot of water is gone into the wicket. There is some good binding of grass, which is really sticking on which will make sure that the wicket is going to be really solid and is going to skid onto the bat which will make the shot making really easy.

He also pointed out the impact wind is going to have in the match as batsmen will target to hit with the wind. “And that is one change as bowlers we had to make and as Shikhar (Dhawan) mentioned, in this ground, wind is a very big factor. There is a strong wind, which is blowing across the ground, which is going to make shot making to one side a lot more easier than the other side,” he said.

“As batsmen have to be aware of the wind, because hitting against the wind is playing against nature because the bowler can use it to the advantage and at the same time, coming from the other side, we have to keep it away from the wind,” he added.

He also mentioned that it is going to be hard work for the bowlers considering the batting track and the wind factor.

Watch: Ravichandran Ashwin turned pitch inspector:

All-rounder @ashwinravi99 turned pitch inspector. Watch full #PitchReport on https://t.co/CPALMGgLOj #TeamIndiaInUSA pic.twitter.com/uWTUzpRE4T

— BCCI (@BCCI) August 27, 2016