India’s star bowler Ravichandran Ashwin has responded to Ian Healy’s recent comments about the Indian pitches and said that his remarks have set a much-needed spart ahead of the Border-Gavaskar trophy.
For the unversed, earlier, the former Australian wicketkeeper Ian Healy had said that Australia would be able to win in the upcoming edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy if fair wickets were produced for the 4 Test series. Speaking on ‘SENQ Breakfast’, Healy said: “I think if they produce fair Indian wickets, that are good batting wickets, to start with, (that) probably spin and spin pretty consistently but spin a long way, late in the match … we (Australia) win. I’m worried about (Mitchell) Starc and (Nathan) Lyon in the first Test … if they’re unfair wickets which I’ve seen in the last series, where balls were jumping ridiculously and sliding down low from day one, I think India play those conditions better than us,” he said.
Meanwhile, responding to Healy’s statements on his YouTube channel, as quoted by Hindustan Times, Ashwin said that Healy’s comments have set a spark, which was much-needed before the start of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which is scheduled to kickstart on the 9th February in Nagpur.
Ashwin went on to say that banter comments will keep coming from the Australian camp. He said: “Anyway, an Australian broadcaster and former player Ian Healy has given a few gems before the BGT. He has given a few statements that say Indians will make sure Australian feel uncomfortable in India – “I don’t believe they will give us wickets that will look even slightly closer to what we will actually get during a game.” So he has said that Australia’s approach is only correct. The support staffs might have given their opinion, but Ian Healy’s quote has set a spark with this take. It’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy guys. So we need this spark, right? Besides, banters will keep coming from the Australian camp for sure. We saw what Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja had to say. Eben Marnus Labuschagne and Matt Renshaw have said some controversial things. Renshaw said that you need to analyse a few things in India like who is taking the new ball and stuff,”
Further, Ashwin explained why Australia decided to skip the tour games and rather created doctored conditions to gear up for the upcoming series against India, as they did for Pakistan. He said:
“Australia skipped their practice game when they toured Pakistan as well since they didn’t want to spend 4 days playing that. So instead of this, if we get a centre wicket on any ground, they will be more happy to practice there. So when you are playing a 3 or 4-Test series, you shouldn’t be in that country for more than a month. Despite getting good facilities in the hotel, it can get tiring. So Australia decided instead of going to that country and practicing there, we know the conditions already, why don’t we doctor the conditions here accordingly. Just like how they are preparing in North Sydney Oval for this India tour, they practiced in Melbourne before the Pakistan tour. So this is something new for Australia,”
