Ravichandran Ashwin is gearing up to play for the club team after a busy IPL season and the veteran India spinner says he decided to acclimatise himself to red-ball cricket ahead of the fifth Test against England from July 1. This decision has been taken. The Indian team will leave for England on June 15 to play a warm-up match against Leicestershire at Edgbaston.
Ashwin has decided to play for MRC A in the TNCA first-class semi-finals and final. In IPL, he was in the Rajasthan Royals team which reached the final. “The aim of playing first-class matches is to move from T20 to the red-ball format. It’s all a matter of workload management. You get smarter with age and experience.
“That’s what I am trying to do,” Ashwin said. I am enjoying my game and want to do the same in England. I think I can contribute with bat and ball. I want to keep my fitness strong.” I think a lot I am happy with my game and don’t aim too far.
Ashwin is keen to ensure that Tamil Nadu continues to dominate the Ranji Trophy. He said steps needed to be taken to revive Test cricket in the state and would like to see TNCA re-organize three-day or four-day cricket for the First Division league next year. It is now played in a two-day format.
Tamil Nadu has been successful in the white-ball formats (T20 and 50 overs), but has not progressed beyond the league stage in the last two seasons of the Ranji season. Ashwin said about it, “If you are serious about playing Test cricket, then both our fast bowling and our batting against fast bowling definitely need to be taken up. There is no other way for this.”