Ravichandran Ashwin of India celebrates the wicket of Mitchell Santner of New Zealand (not pictured) with teammate Rohit Sharma during the T20 International Match between India and New Zealand at Sawai Mansingh Stadium on November 17, 2021 in Jaipur, India.
Following India's five-wicket win over New Zealand in the first of the three-match T20 series, match's star performer R Ashwin (2/23) said bowling slow on the Jaipur surface did the trick for him.
Ashwin, picked both his wickets in the 14th over, including the big scalp of 50-up Mark Chapman, to break the momentum of New Zealand batting.
"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 as Santner showed in the second innings," Ashwin said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
India at one stage were cruising to an easy win before Trent Boult (2/31) brought the Black Caps back in the game with two wickets at the death; including the wicket of Suryakumar Yadav (62 off 40).
This delayed the victory as late as the last over as Rishabh Pant (17* off 17) held on to his nerve to fire a match-winning four off Daryl Mitchell.
Speaking of the team's batting performance, Ashwin felt it was an under-par total to achieve and could have been chased down by the 15th over.
"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," he said.
Ashwin also added that it's too early to speak of Rahul Dravid as the team's new coach.
"It's too early for me to comment on Rahul Dravid's coaching style, but 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," he said.
