Melbourne: Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin likes to go by procedure and doesn’t want to depend too much on ‘match-ups’ which is becoming quite prevalent in T20 cricket. India’s head coach Rahul Dravid is a great believer in ‘match-ups’ and for some time now, the team management under the supervision of the former India captain has been taking decisions based on statistics.
“I don’t think it is inherently necessary for players to believe in ‘match-ups’, but this is one area on which the team can focus on,” Ashwin said at a press conference ahead of the final Super 12 match against Zimbabwe. Developing a strategy. ‘Match-up’ is a concept in which based on statistics a team decides which bowler can dominate which batsman and which batsman can run at a particular time.
“One aspect of it (match-up) is strategizing for a lot of things, but as a bowler you have to bowl to multiple batsmen in a row,” Ashwin said. Ashwin doesn’t believe that any one bowler should only bowl to a particular batsman.
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“I believe this thing exists and is definitely being developed,” he said. As a sports unit, it is hard to believe that this bowler will bowl only for that particular batsman. It cannot work like this. But I believe the teams are getting a strategic advantage from this.”
He said that as a bowler you should know how to build pressure. Ashwin said, “It is important for you to know what is the weak side. You have to work on it continuously and then get better. You can add this to your skills whether you are batting or bowling.”
India has never played cricket in Australia during the Australian winter and so Ashwin has no context as to what he should expect. “It would be unfair to say that it is different because we have never played cricket in Australia during these days of the year. Generally, when it comes to cricket, conditions matter. It is important for you to understand the circumstances. (agency)