Former Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin has warned Team India ahead of the third ODI against New Zealand. The tourists registered a comprehensive seven-wicket win in the second ODI at Rajkot on Wednesday to level the series.
Ashwin said the visitors outplayed the hosts with both bat and ball. India posted 284 runs on the board after they were put into bat by Michael Bracewell but the pitch was on the slow side, and run-scoring wasn’t easy.
Furthermore, India were tottering at 118-4 at one stage and thus KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja had to do the rebuilding work. On the other hand, Indian spinners also had an off-day with Kuldeep Yadav returning with figures of 1-82 in his quota of 10 overs whereas Ravindra Jadeja had 0-44 in eight overs he bowled.
Barring Harshit Rana and Mohammed Siraj’s opening spell, the New Zealand batting line-up didn’t look in any kind of trouble.
Ravichandran Ashwin said on his YouTube Channel, “New Zealand almost won two matches. I won’t call it underestimation. My faith in Team India may have been a little overwhelming. The wicket was slightly up and down; it was slow during the day, looked difficult to adapt to, but honestly, I am surprised. I was reading how we can bowl well. Sure, our guy, our horse Kuldeep Yadav, didn’t have his best day.
“I accept that, but I am 100 percent sure India didn’t bat well as New Zealand did. They have a lot of experience, and even then they allowed Bracewell, Glenn Phillips, Jayden Lennox, and Kristian Clarke, who (Lennox and Clarke) have their first match and first series. Kyle Jamieson is someone who might have played 20 games. I am not sure. They didn’t even have a 70-80 cap, and against them our batting unit didn’t have their best day, sure, but not once but twice.
“I think the problem is that three batters play sweep in the Indian batting lineup. One is Shubman Gill, and then Rohit Sharma. Shreyas Iyer also plays sweep shots at times. KL Rahul also sweeps, but the way they allowed these bowlers to bowl was very surprising. We definitely could’ve defended it, I am not denying that, but our batting wasn’t overwhelming. I definitely expected more,” Ashwin added.
Ashwin highlighted that Team India is facing difficulties while playing on slow pitches.
“Are we facing difficulties on slow wickets? Definitely, I think we are finding it hard on slowish pitches. The ball wasn’t moving much on that pitch; it was staying high or low once or twice. It kept slightly because that’s how the Rajkot wicket plays. Without that, I don’t think it was entirely a tricky surface to play. It was slightly slowish. I tell you, India dominated on such pitches in the past. After scoring 270-280, we used to defend it amazingly well. With this option to choose the old ball after 34 overs, you’ll get assistance. At the back end, with some reverse swing, spinners can come back into play.”
The third ODI between India and New Zealand will be played at Indore on Sunday.
