Ajinkya Rahane had lengthy conversations with Ravichandran Ashwin about the latter’s approach to batting and the drying up of runs ahead of the matches against Australia.
The stand-in Indian captain while speaking to Marathi daily Sakal revealed that he advised Ashwin not to be tensed about his batting after the Indian spinner was dismissed for 5 runs in the practice match ahead of the Test series.
"Our discussion started from the [first] practice match itself," Rahane said. "Ashwin got out early and was sitting alone. I told Ashwin, please do not take tension about your batting. There are times when you think too much about your batting. His record as a batsman is pretty good. When things are not going well, obviously you start brooding about your batting not going well.”
Rahane added that he wanted Ashwin to focus more on his bowling because he felt that Ashwin was a matchwinner overseas with the ball.
"With your bowling you can win us matches. He bowled well and I feel that reflected in his batting [later in the series]. My responsibility was to get his focus on his bowling. He bowled well and that confidence showed in his batting."
The Indian middle order maestro further divulged the details about how he advised Ashwin not to be desperate for runs.
Rahane said he explained to Ashwin that the more "desperate" he was to do well with the bat, the more disappointed he would get if he failed. "Desperation does not work. I told him to play 40-50 balls while batting without thinking about it. And that is what happened. I did not say much to him. All credit should go to Ashwin. I told him, too: your bowling is going so good and consequently, mentally, you are very relaxed and that is why you are batting well [now]. And where we wanted him, he did perform [with the bat] in Sydney."
Ashwin copped several blows on his body in the Sydney Test and in a gladiatorial battle with the Australian fast bowling held the fort on one end along with Hanuma Vihari to see India through that game.
The duo negotiated a total of 259 deliveries in the second innings and put together an unbeaten partnership of 62 runs before taking a long back to the stands in the final day.
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