India’s star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin said that it is too early for him to comment on Rahul Dravid’s coaching style, but he is sure that the head coach will be big on preparation and process.
Rahul Dravid’s coaching stint got off to a winning start as Rohit Sharma-led India defeated New Zealand by five wickets in the first T20I.
Ravichandran Ashwin: It’s Too Early To Comment On Rahul Dravid’s Coaching Style
Rahul Dravid coached and led the India U-19 side to great success in the U-19 World Cup. He would hope to translate the efforts into the senior team, who are struggling at the big stage for quite some time now. He was recently appointed as the interim head coach for the Sri Lanka series, with Ravi Shastri busy with the Test team in England. The new coach has been offered a hefty contract and will be drawing a salary of Rs 10 crore.
The amount makes him one of the highest-paid Indian coaches. His first stint came in 2014 when he travelled to England as a batting consultant for the Test series. In July 2021, he returned as interim head coach for Sri Lankan limited-overs tour as Ravi Shastri-led coaching staff was in England for a Test series.
“It’s too early for me to comment on Rahul Dravid’s coaching style, we need to give him breathing space. He’s put the hard yards in through the U-19 level etc. He won’t leave much to chance, and he’ll be all about preparation and process, so that we can bring the happiness back into the Indian dressing room,” Ashwin told host broadcaster Star Sports after the first T20I ended.
Suryakumar Yadav (62) and Rohit Sharma (48) starred with the bat as India chased down 165 to defeat New Zealand by five wickets in the first T20I of the three-match series here at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.
Earlier, Martin Guptill and Mark Chapman played knocks of 70 and 63 respectively as New Zealand posted a total of 164/6. For India, Ravichandran Ashwin and Bhuvneshwar Kumar returned with two wickets each.
Ravichandran Ashwin Thought India Would Win Around The 15th Over
The spin prodigy Ravichandran Ashwin was impressive in the UAE during the recently-concluded T20I World Cup, In the three outings, he scalped six wickets and maintained an economy of 5.25. The 35-year old made a similar noteworthy outing in the opening game against the Kiwis where he returned with figures 4-0-23-2.
“The slower you bowled, there was more purchase you got on this pitch. If you hit the seam and tossed it up, it did do things like Santner showed in the second innings.
“It’s tricky in T20s, you can’t miss your lengths and you don’t know when to toss it up but here it did help to give it some air. It was a slightly under-par score and we thought 170-180 would be par. We thought we would cruise home around the 15th over, but that’s T20 cricket for you,” said Ravichandran Ashwin.
After being overlooked for the first two games, both of which India lost in the T20I World Cup, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was finally brought into the playing XI after a hiatus of 4 years in T20Is and was the standout spinner for Team India in the three matches he played in the Super 12 stage.
“I bowled the first over in the powerplay, and figuring out the pace to bowl is important and it took me some time to figure that out. It’s about varying to pace and knowing when to vary it.
“It’s important to take each of the 24 balls as an event, and look at each ball in isolation and as an opportunity. You might have to play catch-up, but the batsman is trying to play catch-up and trying to play you too, so you can’t get intimidated,” he added.
With this win, India gained a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, with the second game set to be played on Friday.