India’s veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin believes a bad ball can also reap rewards for a bowler in the shortest format of the game.
Ashwin recalled some incidents when he got the opposition’s wicket when he bowled a bad ball whereas he was taken for runs when he bowled a good ball.
Sometimes the bowler can have the rub of the green on his side when the batsman fails to put the bad ball away. In fact, there is always very little margin of error in the T20 format for the bowlers and we have seen on occasions that even the edges have carried over the fence.
The boundaries are smaller these days and the bats are bigger, which tilts the game in favour of the bowlers.
Ashwin said while talking to Murali Kartik on his YouTube show DRS with Ash, “At what time, what bad ball you choose to bowl can also be very effective in T20.”
“I guess it was during my last game for Punjab Kings against Sunrisers Hyderabad. The wicket was very flat. So, I had a deep cover and long-off and bowled wide outside-off skidding balls. He had to reach for it, played his cuts and got some singles. But after that, he came outside off-stump. He stood on the line of off-stump so that he got close to the ball. So, I bowled a poor, short delivery outside leg-stump. He had to reach for it thinking it would hit leg-stump and got caught at short fine-leg.
“That evening I thought how he ended up getting a wicket with a poor delivery. But the fact of the matter is, T20 cricket has come to that stage. It’s all about what option you choose from the buffet. Once (Kieron) Pollard mistimed twice and both times, it just cleared the boundary-line fielder. Then I came and bowled a short ball. All he could do was score a single to short fine-leg. I couldn’t believe myself. That’s how far the game has evolved.”
Meanwhile, Ravichandran Ashwin had backed out of IPL 2021 before the tournament was indefinitely postponed by the BCCI. Ashwin wanted to support his family during the testing times and it was reported there were a lot of positive cases in Ashwin’s family.
Ashwin is going to play a key role in the upcoming tour of England and he will look to be at his best in the WTC final against New Zealand, which will take place at the Ageas Bowl, Southampton from June 18.
