Ravichandran Ashwin. (AP)
Veteran Indian spinner Ashwin was the wrecker-in-chief as he picked up yet another five-wicket haul and helped India handicap the Windies’ batting order. The spinner explained his routine as he prepared himself to get into the match zone despite struggling with jet lag and workload.
Team India started the tour of West Indies with a spectacular performance on Day 1 of the first Test at Windsor Park in Dominica on Wednesday as the team from the sub-continent bundled out the hosts for a mere 150 runs. India followed up the brilliant bowling performance with a solid batting display as they made it to stumps on the opening day at 80 for no loss.
Indian veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was the wrecker-in-chief as he picked up yet another five-wicket haul and helped India handicap the Windies’ batting order.
The spinner explained his routine as he prepared himself to get into the match zone despite struggling with jet lag and workload.
“I landed in Barbados and felt a bit jet lagged as I had just come off the TNPL,” the 36-year-old said.
“I felt like my shoulder, the arm speed and the body position at the crease weren’t really ideal,” he elaborated.
“The first day at Barbados when we were on the practice surface, the net was okay, but the practice game on the first day, I did not feel okay at all,” he continued.
“The second day I did eight to ten overs and that was slightly better, so I just felt like with the jet lag and the amount of workload, my shoulder rotational speed and the body going through into the ball and all these things take a certain amount of time,” he explained.
“And what happens is, sometimes when you are playing on really slow and turning surfaces, you do not know how much you need to impart on the ball, what sort of force you need to put from your shoulder,” the spinner-par-excellence elucidated.
“So I always go and practice on a concrete or a cement surface, where I don’t have to really muscle the ball, I just have to release it nicely and I know that is my sweet spot, so I try to do it,” he said.
Ashwin scalped the wickets of WI skipper Kraigg Brathwaite, Tangerine Chandrapaul, Alick Athanaze and Alzarri Joseph in the first innings of the game.
Ashwin was ably supported by Ravindra Jadeja, who dismissed three Windies batsmen, while Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Siraj removed a batsman each.
Promising Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal was handed his debut yesterday and ended the day unbeaten at 40 alongside skipper Rohit Sharma, who was batting at 30 not out when the umpire signalled the end of the day.