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R Ashwin was concerned in considered one of the most dramatic Test matches for India – the well-known draw against West Indies throughout the 2011 dwelling sequence. The match ended with the scores stage for less than the second time in historical past when Ashwin couldn’t rating the two runs wanted to win off the last ball. Needing 243 to win, Virender Sehwag and Virat Kohli scored half-centuries, however a match that appeared like ending in a boring draw got here to life when West Indies dismissed India’s center order with out taking a lot harm.
Ashwin, who made his Test debut earlier in the sequence, scored a century and a fifty. With two wickets left, Ashwin and Varun Aaron accomplished a single however the off-spinner was run out attempting to steal the successful run for India. “In the final innings, we looked good to chase, but all of a sudden, we had a collapse,” Ashwin told Mazher Arshad on YouTube.
“I found myself batting with the tail. It was very interesting, because I had a hundred in the first innings. Second innings, I was again batting well. I was 20-odd. I was left with I think Varun Aaron at the other end, and I think it might have been two balls, two runs to get… we had two wickets in hand.”
Ashwin ended up being named the Player of the Match and Series however couldn’t be the man of the second for India. Ashwin hesitated earlier than going for the second run and it was sufficient for Denesh Ramdin and wicketkeeper Charlton Baugh to orchestrate the run-out that averted a 0-Three whitewash for West Indies. The ending brought about a furore with Ashwin taking to Twitter to supply a response.
“I didn’t want to risk going for a big shot, and then, the next batsman coming in and getting out – we could lose the Test match, from being in a position of strength, it was not even 50-50,” he mentioned.
“So I blocked that ball from Fidel Edwards, because it was swinging nicely and the chances of a No.11 getting out was pretty high. It was the calculation I’d put in my head; it was all coming from how much first-class cricket I had played, and whatever I believed was the right decision to make.”
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It could have been the finest resolution Ashwin may make at that second, nevertheless, the off-spinner revealed that after the match, captain MS Dhoni got here as much as him suggesting what he may have achieved in another way.
“I still believe it was the right decision to make. When I hit the ball to long on, it really went quick and straight to the fielder, so the chance to run for two was not there. It was quite an interesting game,” he mentioned.
“After the game, MS Dhoni came to me and said, ‘You could have taken a chance in the previous ball. Probably taken a single, and let Varun Aaron slog one off the last ball’. So yeah, that’s hindsight.”
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