Ashwin Fears Dew Could "Kill Beauty" of T20 Cricket After India's Chase

Despite being down 6/2 within two overs, explosive knocks from Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav helped India chase down a massive total of 209 runs in 15.2 overs. As much as it was about the dominance of Indian batters and their supreme skill, such a quick run chase and this astonishing result were also made possible due to the presence of dew in the second innings on the surface, making the outfield faster and making the ball wet and less easy to grip or control while bowling. After the match, while Ashwin hailed the batting duo of Ishan and Surya, he was not appreciative of the largely anti-bowler conditions in the second innings.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin said that the match could have been played in the afternoon, and such conditions could be unfair on the bowlers, especially Indian bowlers, if they happen to leak runs when dew is around.

"The games can be played in the afternoon. Teams like New Zealand will not bother because they dont have many bowlers and they know that in such conditions nothing can be done. But in teams like India, if a player has not done well in two games and comes and bowls in such conditions in the third game and goes for runs, his career will be over. It is unfair to play in such conditions," Ashwin said.

"How will you fight such conditions as a bowler? We can plan better. If there is dew, at least play in the day. Or choose different venues. Other countries have a record of conditions, how the wicket will react, par scores etc for every ground. We must also have such records," he said.

Ashwin hoped that during the T20 World Cup's India leg, "due diligence" would be taken regarding dew on the chosen venues, because if dew is present, the importance of the toss increases.

"I really hope that the India leg matches of the T20 World Cup are not affected by dew. If it is, skill will go out of the window. I sincerely hope there is a little more due diligence on the dew factor in these venues. Once it comes in, you are dependent on the toss a lot. I don't want to see a multination World Cup that will be dictated to a certain degree by dew. Skill should be at the fore," he said.

Ashwin said that with the way Ishan batted and Surya played his shots, one cannot take away the credit from them. He also hailed Kuldeep Yadav for his fine spell with the wet ball, taking 2/35 in four overs.

"But when you see certain situations where people are also getting hammered because of conditions, if you have a bad day, the conditions should be like you can fight it out with hard work, but that is not happening. Dew can kill the beauty of the game," he said.

Coming to the match, India won the toss and opted to bowl first. Knocks from skipper Mitchell Santner (47* in 27 balls, with six fours and a six) and Rachin Ravindra (44 in 26 balls, with two fours and four sixes) were the highlights as the Kiwis posted 208/6 in their 20 overs. Kuldeep was the pick of the bowlers for India with 2/35 in four overs, with Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana, Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube getting a wicket each.

In the run-chase, India lost Sanju Samson (6) and Abhishek Sharma (0) early, but Ishan (76 in 32 balls, with 11 fours and four sixes) and skipper Surya (82* in 37 balls, with nine fours and four sixes) turned the tides with an unbelievable 122-run stand in eight overs. Shivam (36* in 18 balls, with four and three sixes) also played a quick cameo, taking India to the target in 15.2 overs.

- ANI