TNPL 2016: I am proud of the fact that my boys gave their 100 per cent, says Ravichandran Ashwin

Dindigul Dragons’ R Ashwin addressed the media at the NPR College Ground at Natham after his team’s six-run loss to Chepauk Super Gillies on Thursday. Ashwin was unlucky to end up on the losing side despite a fine all-round effort. Here is an excerpt of the transcript.

Was the chase a ball or two late?

I actually thought we would have won with two deliveries to spare, but then I missed a shot! Ash (M Ashwin) also missed one at the start of the over off a free-hit. We were playing big shots and it is always 50-50 during such games. I was striking the ball well and I should have taken the responsibility to finish off the game.

On the loss?

We have to accept that this is the nature of sport. We had wickets in hand and we backed our players to play good shots and accelerate in the end. We had been doing that well. Our strength is bowling – an area which we should have utilized. We are happy that our boys have given 100 percent and they are fully pumped up.

Why was M Ashwin introduced late into the attack?

I bought him in 10th over as the thought process was to delay him as much as possible. I knew the game could be pulled back later in the innings as I had a left-arm spinner and a leg-spinner who could turn the ball away from right-handers. Hence I never bowled him in the first six overs. I may as well introduce him the first over of the next match! But then I can’t risk a leg-spinner in the first six overs, and I would like to hold him back for the older ball – a ploy which worked in Tirunelveli. He is an experienced guy, he should not allow the batsman to keep going. That is why he is in the team and was the second pick.

Your view on the left-arm spinners in the tournament?

First things first, (MS) Sanjay is an exceptional talent, you are going to hear his name a lot more in the bigger stage as well. Left-arm spinners are in abundance and it is difficult to hit them. There are two reasons. First is that the hitting quality in the league will improve in the coming years as many batsmen are still finding their feet in T20s. The fact is that they are not able to strike the ball big, but it is only a matter of time before they start hitting the left-arm spinners as well.

On the altercation between Jagadeesan and Sai Kishore?

They are all young kids and it all happened in the heat of the moment. Also, Kishore bowled very well to take the wicket of Jagadeesan. At that stage, anybody would get pumped up and that’s what happened. Both the captains did very well to diffuse the situation, and it is not called for, but then we need to give them a bit of levy.

What was the par score on that wicket?

The par score was 180 and we did well to restrict them to 172. We had to score 70 off the last five overs and we almost did that. So that will give us an idea as to how well they bowled. We probably gave them 10 runs more - the overthrows, couple of drops. These are not very large boundaries and the outfield is very fast. The batting standards will get better and these scores will be knocked off very easily.

Any player that caught your eye?

Jagadeesan. Also, M Ashwin from our team has done well.