IND vs NZ, 3rd Test: R Ashwin reacted to his stunning catch, which helped Ravindra Jadeja to take Daryl Mitchell's wicket on the second day of the third Test, and reckoned that he trusted his own hands to take that catch. His catch gave the team the much-needed breakthrough as Mitchell was looking comfortable and was inching closer towards giving the visitors a good lead.
This occurred during the 28th over when Ravindra Jadeja bowled a delivery and Mitchell mistimed the shot. He failed to find the right connection as Ashwin was running behind to grab that catch. He took the stunning catch and forced the fans present at the venue to chant 'Ashwin, Ashwin'. During the post-match presentation, Ashwin reckoned that he reminded himself that he wouldn't be able to catch it anyway but wanted to ensure that he got closer to it as much as possible.
"I was just telling myself that it's going to anyway leave me, I wanted to get as close to the ball as possible and I've got great hands, so I trusted my hands to go through with it," Ashwin told broadcasters in the post-match presentation.
He bounced back to form as he took three wickets during the second innings after he failed to take a single wicket during the first innings. He bowled carrom balls to dismiss batters like Glenn Phillips and Will Young on the second day.
He emphasized that the other side of the pitch behaved differently from that of the pavilion end and that's why he mixed up his bowling variations.
"The game itself is divided into two halves. The one from the pavilion end and the other side, the wicket is responding very differently. It's slightly flatter from the one where we are bowling from the dressing room side, the bounce is much lesser, so I thought I would try and use it the other way. The batters are also knowing that it's easier to take me on from this side. So I wanted to give something different," he revealed.
Not going to be an easy chase
The Tom Latham-led side are leading by 143 runs at stumps on the second day and Ashwin is hopeful that they can finish their innings as soon as possible. He admitted that it won't be easy chasing the target during the fourth innings and that the batters would need to step up.
"Hopefully not many, we should wrap it up with one or two runs here and there. Any runs saved in this inning are going to be much more critical for us when we chase it down. It's not going to be easy, we'll have to bat well," he concluded.
The Kiwis finished the second day at 171/9, where Ashwin registered figures of 3/63 in the 16 overs that he bowled.