“I am sure it is going to be challenging because of the kind of wickets and the heat. All the boys are very comfortable and we’re looking forward to the tournament”, the Guyanese said. We’ve had a very open chat and he has already told me what he’s looking forward to from me, and I have already told him what I’m looking forward to him teaching me.
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“It will be a bit of a challenge”. If the wickets are going to be tailor-made for us, if it starts spinning, then we come into our own. Test captain Virat Kohli likes to field five bowlers, so Ashwin’s batting could come handy for the visitors.
“The other day you saw Mishy bowl for about 15-16 overs without any wickets, but once he got a breakthrough, he started breaking through at regular intervals”.
West Indies have called up uncapped fast bowler Miguel Cummins as a replacement for Jerome Taylor for the opening Test against India in Antigua, starting from July 21.
“There might be a little bit of bounce and little bit of slowness in the wicket that we can exploit”. But it’s got to be pretty boring line and lengths, keep teasing away with your flight. “We’re pretty much ready for it”. “So that is going to be a challenge for us”, Ashwin explained.
It’s a status that suits him, Ashwin said:”Being the leader of a pack is something I take pride in”. The challenge that come with it is obviously the pressure. It’s been more of giving me the license to try and express myself, which is something I really relish. “I make sure that when I am not able to land my variation in the right spots, my leg spin, which is my most important weapon works perfectly”, he stated. You know that you are the one who is going to go ahead and do the job.
Kohli will be hoping for an improved show from his pacers – Mohammed Shami, who is returning to competitive cricket after a long injury lay-off, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, veteran Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav. “So in terms of trying to go for longer periods of time with the ball, bowl longish spells and try and build those boring lines, these are things that you need to tick”. Watching the last game, I felt that the wickets were pretty slow.
“I did well against India when they were here in the Caribbean back in 2011”, he reflected.
On the tour of Australia that followed, Warrican was picked ahead of Bishoo for the Hobart Test, before the latter injured his rotator cuff on the first morning of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, and did not play the Sydney Test either.
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In encouraging ECCO members to attend the Test Match, Mr. Etienne has also complimented the WICB for coming up with attractive admission charges of EC$30 for the first 3 days with the 4th and 5th day going at EC$40. So that’s going to be a challenge for the bowling group. “So this match will give me a clearer idea and going into Antingua I can be in a better position”.
