Ravichandran Ashwin made Bangladesh pay for dropping his catch early on in the innings as he spoiled Bangladesh's chances of registering their first ever Test win over India on December 25. After an unbeaten 42 in record-breaking partnership with Shreyas Iyer, Ashwin feels that Indian batters did not “trust their defences enough” as they suffered a batting collapse.
“We didn't have much batting left. It was one of those games where we let the game drift whenever we could have shut it off. Shreyas batted beautifully,” Ashwin said in the post-match presentation.
“Sometimes these situations you feel like you have to get ahead of things, they bowled good lines and I felt that we didn't trust our defences enough. Loved the way Shreyas batted. Pitches are quite good here. But I thought the ball got soft really quickly. Credit to Bangladesh, they put us under real pressure at certain moments,” he added.
Ashwin walked in to bat at no.9 as India lost three quick wickets within half an hour of first session. With seven wickets for 74, India needed 71 more runs to win. Ashwin got an early reprieve as Mominul Haque dropped his catch at short leg. The all-rounder did not give Bangladesh any chance after that. He did not refrain from taking the aerial route against spinners and hit four fours and one six during his stay at the crease.
The 71-run unbeaten partnership broke a 28-year-old record between former Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq and Rashid Latif. The Pakistan duo shared a 52-run partnership for the eighth wicket against Australia in a winning cause at Karachi in 1994. Now, it is the eighth-highest partnership in fourth innings in a winning cause.
Ashwin was adjudged ‘Player of the match’ as well. Before the gutsy knock, he took a four-wicket haul in the first innings followed by two more in the second innings. He could not do much with the bat in the first innings and scored 12 runs.
Ashwin has stepped in tough situations. He also ended up as India’s fifth-highest run-scorer in the format in 2022, ahead of former Indian skipper Virat Kohli.
