Indian National Cricket Team star off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has shared his bold take on comments made by England national cricket team’s veteran pacer James Anderson about chasing a target of 600 against the Indian national cricket team in the second Test in Vizag.
England were buoyed with confidence after achieving a shock victory against the Indian national cricket team in the first of the recently concluded five-match Test series in Hyderabad. The first Test victory led the English players to underestimate the Indian team and English pacer Anderson even claimed that they would chase 600 runs in the Vizag Test.
On Day 3 of the second Test, India set a target of 399 runs for England to chase. The English batsmen did a decent job on the third day as they played positive cricket and ended the day on 67 for the loss of a wicket in 14 overs.
“The conversation last night with the coach (Brendon McCullum) was that if they got 600, we were going for it. Make it very clear to everyone that we will try to do it tomorrow. I know there are 180 overs left in the game, but we will try to do it in 60 or 70. That is the way we play, and we saw it tonight with Rehan (Ahmed) coming out and playing his shots,” Anderson had said. .
However, England faced a drubbing against Rohit Sharma & Co. as the batsmen could not survive against the dominant Indian bowling unit and lost by 106 runs to level the series at 1-1.
He told the press that even if the fourth innings target was 500 or 600, we would finish it in 60 overs – Ravichandran Ashwin
In a video shared on his official YouTube channel, Ravichandran Ashwin spoke about Anderson’s comments and said that he went too far.
“James Anderson attended a press conference in the second test after winning the first considerably well. A lot of respect to them for winning that. He told the press that even if the fourth innings target was 500 or 600, we would finish it in 60 overs. Although it was an example of his positive mindset, I felt they had gone too far,” Ashwin said.
Ravichandran Ashwin also shared his views on Bazball’s approach in England and made a big revelation. Ashwin was blunt in his verdict saying that English batsmen avoid defensive cricket for fear of getting out. He expressed surprise that Joe Root agreed to play Bazball despite having a strong defensive technique.
“The only thing I understood after the first Test is that Bazball is not just aggressive cricket. It’s a defenseless cricket. They’re not going to play any defensive shots. They will come out if they play defense. To my surprise, Joe Root also agreed with his game plan. Because if we take the vest defense rankings of world cricket, Root is an easy No. 1 on that list against spin. He also accepted his approach,” the 37-year-old said.
In the end, the Indian national cricket team made a sensational comeback in the five-match Test series and crushed Ben Stokes-led England 4-1. This was England’s first defeat in a Test series under captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum..