India’s bowling coach Paras Mhambrey has tipped Ravichandran Ashwin as one of the greatest match-winner for India. Ashwin continued to impress against the West Indies as he made the most of the favorable conditions at Windsor Park, Dominica in the opening Test match.
The veteran scalped a total of dozen wickets in the match to take the visitors to a convincing victory of an innings and 141 runs. Ashwin returned with figures of 5-60 on the opening day of the Test match to bundle out the Windies for 150.
This was the 33rd five-wicket haul for the spinner from Tamil Nadu. Ashwin continued to breathe down the neck of the West Indies batters as he swallowed seven wickets in the second innings, this time returning with 7-71. Furthermore, it was the eighth time when Ashwin took a 10-wicket haul in the match.
“As a team, we realize how valuable R Ashwin is. In my opinion he is one of the greatest match-winners for India. There have been very few match-winners like him. The number of matches he has helped us win what can I say,” said Mhambrey after the match.
Mhambrey added they were able to gauge the pitch and knew it was going to stay low and slow and thus the spinners will come into action.
“When we came here on Day 1, it was a bit dry, and when we checked the stats of the local games we found out that spinners dominated in those games. We felt as the game progresses it will be difficult for batting and the other thing is how we use the wicket,” Mhambrey added.
India took a massive lead of 271 runs after scoring 421-5 in 152.2 overs before Rohit Sharma decided to declare. Mhambrey reckons it was crucial to take time as a batting unit and also hailed the spin duo of Jadeja and Ashwin, who combined to take 17 wickets in the match.
“They have batted and we have batted as well and there were situations where teams could have batted for longer periods which we did. That created the base for the bowlers to later come and perform. The way Ashwin and Jadeja came on later and bowled is praiseworthy,” said Mhambrey.
The second Test match will be played from 20th July at the Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad.
