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West Indies left with a lot of work to do against India

Wednesday, July 27 2016 by SNTV
  • Reaction after Captain Virat Kohli slammed a double hundred, Ravichandran Ashwin scored his third test century as India declare at 566/8 in the first innings of the first test against the West Indies in Antigua on Friday (22 July 2016).

    SOUNDBITE: (English) Ravichandran Ashwin, India (on his batting)

    "I mean I have always wanted to bat in the top seven, which is a big thing. It is a long time goal that I need to strive to get better at. I need to thank Anil (Kumble) bhai and Virat (Kohli) for having the confidence to push me to number six, there were times in the past when I have batted really well and haven't got the promotion, this really says a whole lot of thing about me. Virat called me in the morning and said you will be batting at number six ahead of (Wriddhiman) Saha, which is a big boost to to my batting confidence. I had worked on it in the past one month in Chennai with my coach and I'm very very happy the way it has come out and I have never left so many balls. The aim was to…Ajinkya (Rahane) told before the test match about batting 200 balls, my aim was to bat 150 and try and see where I could get. In between I played an over against (Shannon) Gabriel which was a bit loose. Virat again came up to me and said that is what you need to avoid in test cricket to be more successful. So I really thought I left really well, knew where my off stump was, it was about batting time more than runs for me this time."

    SOUNDBITE: (English) Ravichandran Ashwin, India (on tweaking his batting technique)

    "First things first, Sanjay Bangar (batting coach) really worked closely with my stance for the past twelve months and it has been a challenge. I used to be extra side-on and I had to open up a little bit and that change is very effective. I have not driven straight down the ground for a very long time so that is pretty evident. There have been other these things like my initial movement and all these things had to be sorted. So it was a process for ten, twelve months. On the way I did use a few innings as a batsman as well."

    SOUNDBITE: (English) Ravichandran Ashwin, India (on batting with Virat Kohli)

    "It is not a wicket where you walk in, plonk and hit it..there is good bounce, and there are areas where the ball is not…it is coming at different paces as well. So when I walked in and started batting it felt like Virat (Kohli) was hitting a few shots that was impossible for me to connect. I think that is the sheer brilliance of how Virat has been batting for the last year or so..he is just playing a few shots that makes bowling look ridiculous, but I should say those are excellent shots and out of ordinary shots."

    SOUNDBITE: (English) Ravichandran Ashwin, India (on trying to enjoy his batting)

    "I'm just trying to enjoy myself, if that is what the team expects out of me and that's what I'm going to try and give, some sort of solidity walking in at six, it is not just that you walk in and you get runs for India batting at six, that's not how simple as it sounds, I want to really make an effort towards it, try and be as solid as possible, the team inside should feel like somebody has walked in and actually taken their time and given solidity to the team, so that's my goal more than anything else."

    SOUNDBITE: (English) Roddy Estwick, Bowling Coach, West Indies (on team's bowling strength)

    "Also you must bear in mind that we have lost Jerome Taylor to retirement, we lost Kemar Roach who has not been selected, and when you look at our bowling attack between them it's about 40-45 test matches between us, so obviously they are still learning, they are still learning the art of fast bowling, they are trying to get the combinations right, it's going to be a long struggle. And remember that India are a very good batting side as well, so it is going to be a tough series for us but we are going to continue to work hard, continue to stay disciplined and try and stay as focused as possible."

    SOUNDBITE: (English) Roddy Estwick, Bowling Coach, West Indies (on lack of experience in bowling)

    "You've got Ralston Chase in his first test match, you've got Carlos Brathwaite who has only played three test matches, Jason Holder who is in his 15th test match..a very very young attack and we are still learning, I heard couple of weeks ago England were lamenting the loss of Jimmy Anderson and yet they had Stuart Broad with 99 test matches, you know it's not easy as a bowling unit, everything takes time, we got to be patient, and understand that it is a very very young attack, we are playing against a very very good Indian batting line-up, on a very good batting pitch as well."

    SOUNDBITE: (English) Roddy Estwick, Bowling Coach, West Indies, (on team's strategy from here on)

    "It is a very simple thing, we got to bat well, we got to bat deep into the fourth day, if we can try and bat into the fourth day, just after tea on the fourth day then it will give us a chance of saving the game…but the first thing to do is to avoid the follow-on. But somebody at the top four will have to score a big hundred, if you look Kohli got 200 and that's going to be important for us, it's that one of our batsman put their hands up and say look this is a good pitch, I'm going to capitalize it, if they can come in our backyard and do it, then we can do it as well."

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