India’s carrom-baller, spin wizard Ashwin bids adieu to international cricket
India's decorated off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin announced his decision to retire from international cricket moments after the Brisbane Test ended in a draw.
After winning their second super-over match in three days against New Zealand, Virat Kohli led India have now taken a 4-0 lead in the 5 matches T20I series.
At one point, the home team seem to be well in course of reaching their target of 166 runs. However, a last over panic led to the scores being tied eventually and the match was decided on yet another Super Over which India won comfortably.
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Shardul Thakur first contributed some useful runs (20 runs off 15 balls) lower down the order, stitching a vital 43 run partnership with Manish Pandey and then bowled a brilliant last over to force the match into the Super Over. He even bagged the Man of the Match award for his all-round contribution.
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“You couldn’t ask for anything more,” said Shardul at the post-match presentation ceremony as quoted by IANS.
“This is what we play for, these nail-biting finishes,” he added.
“After the last game, we learned that we should never lose hope. If I bowl a dot ball or a wicket ball, the pressure is on them,” he said.
“It was important to stretch the partnership in the middle, and should have carried on until the 19th and 20th over, so hopefully next time things turn out better for me,” he further stated.
Meanwhile, New Zealand’s Stand-in skipper Tim Southee stated that the Kiwis made it difficult for themselves by giving India a chance to come back in the later stages of the match after dominating the majority of the match.
“It is very tough. To get ourselves the position we got today and then give them a chance… India grabbed it with both hands. When you got a young bowling attack, it’s a critical decision (to bowl the Super Over) from a number of people. You make it tough on yourself when you give a sniff to teams like India,” Southee said at the post-match presentation ceremony as quoted by IANS.
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