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- 'It is very important to know what conditions are thrown at you. You can't try and beat the conditions.'
India's premier spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has no complaints about the seaming track at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Mirpur despite it not offering much assistance to the spinners. The off-spinner believes it is important to understand the different conditions and adapt accordingly.
"It is very important to know what conditions are thrown at you. You can't try and beat the conditions. It is very important to go back and understand that it will not spin a lot on these surfaces. That's why it is even more imperative that we try to bowl in good lengths, get away with our overs rather than looking to go for wickets," Ashwin said, on the eve of their round-robin league match against Sri Lanka.
"In the T20 format, it is the pressure that gives you wickets rather than exact skill of the ball. That's what I look to do, and when there is any window to attack I will attack irrespective of the wicket.
“It's T20 cricket. We might have a slower wicket, flatter wickets in World T20. We have to understand situation rather than complaining about it. Testing ourselves in various environments is good for us," he added.
Ashwin claimed he has no problems with Bangladesh preparing seamer-friendly wickets for T20 matches, which are usually loaded with runs.
"It's their choice as to what kind of wickets they want. We came thinking that the wickets will be slow but international teams need to adapt to whatever surfaces are thrown at them. Hopefully, it has given us a dress rehearsal of how to bat lower down the order."
He termed Virat Kohli's splendid effort with the bat against Pakistan, especially while facing the fiery spell of fast bowler Mohammad Amir, as one of 'guts and courage' which gave the dressing room a lot of relief.
"We needed someone to stick his head out as Amir was going through a really good spell. We needed someone to show intent. Virat showed that intent while defending as well as attacking, which gave the dressing room a lot of comfort.
"Obviously, we knew that with a 20-30 run stand, the match will be over as it was not a huge score. From that perspective, Virat showed a lot of guts and courage and that was very encouraging."