Seeking to bury any perceived differences with his spin spearhead Ravichandran Ashwin, India’s limited over skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni today hailed the off-spinner stating that he has “bailed” the team out on numerous occasions.
As I have said, Ashwin has bailed me out in a lot of situations – whether bowling in first six or in the slog phase. He is a bowler who can come in and do well at any time,” Dhoni said, trying to clear the air about under-bowling the Tamil Nadu bowler, right from the start of the World T20.
He was answering a question in reference to the premier offie was brought on as late as the 16th over to bowl for the first time and then taken off in the IPL’s season-opening game yesterday between his new team – Rising Pune Supergiants – and defending champions Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium.
“It’s a subject, like revealing strategy. Ashwin is a matured bowler. He can bowl at any point of time. I knew the moment they (Mumbai Indians) lost a few wickets there was pressure on their middle or lower middle order,” Dhoni said at a media conference, where he was announced as brand ambassador of mobile handset brand, Lava.
The Ranchi super star also explained how, with MI reeling at 30 for 4 inside five overs, he thought it was the ideal time to bring on debutant leg spinner Murugan Ashwin to bowl his full four-over quota and remove signs of nervousness from the youngster’s mind.
“It was a very good platform for leg spinner Ashwin (1 for 16) to come in. Since you watched the game, you would have seen he is not someone who bowls a lot of short deliveries, but he was feeling the pressure.
“I thought it was more important for me to give him those four overs as in the longer run I need him as a wicket taking option, and I felt at that point of time if I can give him the four overs it will give him the confidence to come back probably in the second and third game,” he said.
