The Indian all-rounder, R.Ashwin, once again, for the second consecutive time, highlighted the presentation ceremony as the Off-spinner bagged 2 of the 3 awards in the presentation ceremony. The all-rounder was presented with Man of the Series and Man of the match award for superb performance all through 20 days of India-New Zealand series.
Not just that as this was the seventh Man of the Series award for the all-rounder in 14 Test series he has played till now. A mesmerised Ashwin, during the presentation ceremony instead of counting out his performance first, thanked the crowd for wonderful turnout and said “First things first, I would like to thank the crowd of Indore, coming out in large numbers. It felt like a Test from the 90s. It was a wicket where you had to work hard, be patient. There was a little bit of help outside the off stump, in terms of footmarks”.
He highlighted the fact that lose shots from Kiwis helped India on its way to a win as at one stage the visiting was just one down with just a session to go on the penultimate day, they lost their 9 wickets within a period of just one session doing a complete surrender in front of Indian bowlers, especially spinners “Second innings, they helped us out with their shots. The reason we were slow was because he wanted to get them driving. There was not much bounce to get catches at short leg. I knew Boult was coming, and he’d give me footmarks, so I wanted them lunging out. I have to give special mention to Shami, Bhuvi and Umesh, they got us a lot of wickets with reverse swing and Jaddu is a perfect foil. Virat had told me he was trying to rotate the bowlers, and it did help, Jaddu got the wicket of Guptill. I feel really good about myself and my confidence is sky high,” said the Man of the Match, Man of the Series and Man of the Moment R. Ashwin.
The one down batsman of Indian cricket team, Cheteshwar Pujara, who changed his batting gear on the ultimate final day of the third Test match also showered praises on the crowd and players and said “I think everyone has contributed, especially when we talk about the batting, starting from the top order, and contributions from the lower order Ashwin, Saha, Jadeja and then the bowlers, the fast bowlers too. It was a team effort; the plan was to get as many runs as possible. So I thought I had to accelerate and we just wanted to bat one and a half sessions. Gautam was batting really well, I was asking him what to do, how to accelerate. It was a pleasure to watch. I am looking forward to the England series, First Test match at Rajkot [his home] just like Indore. And here I would like to thank crowd for their massive support”
Gautam Gambhir, who bruised his shoulder twice during the game credited his domestic form and the continuity in the game for his success in this game, he also praised Cheteshwar Pujara for his great performance in the game “When you come into international cricket with runs under your belt in four-day games, it gives you a lot of confidence. We wanted to play normally in the first hour, but after that, we wanted to get four and five per over which was not that difficult with the kind of fields they had for us. Pujara played unbelievably well. Making up after missing out two years, and getting a half-century in four years, it was sweet” said the comeback man.
With this win, the Indian team has kicked off a 6 month long cricket season with a win. 10 Test matches still await Indian team on the other side but before that the Indians and the Kiwis will battle it out in the coloured jersey in five one-day clashes. Both the team will travel to Dharamsala for the first game followed by Delhi, Mohali, Ranchi and Vizag.
Many key players including R. Ashwin have been rested from the 50 overs squad. One can expect a turnaround for Kiwis in the limited over clashes. M.S. Dhoni will also be back for 5 ODI clashes.