India's Ravichandaran Ashwin, right, celebrates the wicket of New Zealand's Tom Latham with his teammate Cheteshwar Pujara, left, during the day five of their first test cricket match with New Zealand in Kanpur, India, Monday, Nov. 29, 2021.
Highlights
- On all five days, none of the teams managed to bowl mandatory 90 overs in a day due to bad light
- Ashwin said that fighting hard as a unit and sticking together throughout was the gain for them
- The spinner also praised New Zealand tailenders for holding on till the end
After India missed out on winning the first Test against New Zealand in Kanpur due to bad light at the closing stages of the game on Monday, the hosts' veteran spinner R Ashwin said Team India has no complaints about the natural interruption as it affected play on all the days of the Test.
Apparently, on all five days of the Test, none of the teams managed to bowl the mandatory 90 overs in a day due to bad light. On the final day, New Zealand avoided the loss as they finished 165/9 while chasing 284.
"We were actually keeping things under control," said Ashwin after the match. "We were bowling in good areas and we knew if we had the time to go on and put some pressure on them, we could get the job done but the light was always going to come in the last session. There have been bad light in every single day of this Test match so we did expect it, so no complaints."
Ashwin further said that fighting hard as a unit and sticking together throughout was the gain for India from the Test match as no other format tests the grit of a team like the red-ball cricket.
"Couldn't get the job done but we stuck together well. The beauty of Test cricket is that you need to want it. It's really hard, it's not one of those formats where you turn up, have a good day, have a good four-over bowl or have a good 20-overs bat. There is a lot of pain, there is a lot of hard work, there's a lot of tenacity you need to bring into play," he said.
The 35-year-old spinner also surpassed Harbhajan Singh's Test cricket career haul of 417 wickets (in 103 games) said he enjoys breaching the milestone but believes in having special memories with the team, as advised by the head coach Rahul Dravid.
"These are milestones that are constantly kept on tab, it's wonderful. Ever since Rahul Bhai has taken over, he's kept saying that how many ever wickets you take, how many ever runs you make in 10 years time, you won't remember them. It's the memories that matter so I want to have some special memories going forward in the next 3-4 years," he said.
