Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin spoke about the red soil pitch in Chennai after a stellar outing in the recent Test against Bangladesh.
The Chennai-born spinner picked a 6-fer in Bangladesh's second innings, apart from scoring a century in the first innings.
After his match-winning spell, the spinner opened up on ideas and ways to be successful on red soil pitches. India beat Bangladesh by a whopping margin of 280 runs. And a large part of the win would be credited to Ashwin, not only for his batting, but also his bowling ability.
Post the win, the hometown boy spoke to media outlet PTI to share his thoughts on red soil pitches in the country. He also revealed his soft-corner towards pitches that do not offer much turn, but generate steep bounce out of the surface.
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What is Ravi Ashwin's success mantra on red soil pitches?
Ashwin touched upon the importance of adapting to pitches in India, rather than seeking assistance from the surface. The red soil pitch in Chepauk played a little different than the previous occasions in Chennai, helping fast bowlers and offering bounce to spinners. It didn't offer as much turn and was generally a good wicket to bat on.
In the past, we've seen extremely spin-friendly wickets in Chennai.
Ashwin has suggested that the bounce could help the bowlers even on surfaces that do not offer much assistance.
"Look, I think this pitch, even if you bowl good balls, you will go for runs. But the bounce is going to be quite daunting. The beauty about red soil is you put revs on it, there is value and there is bounce," he said.
MORE: Red Soil and Black soil pitches difference in cricket explained
What did Ashwin say on the decreasing number of red soil pitches in India?
Ashwin revealed his preference of playing on bouncy red soil pitches than any other surface. Despite the surface's favor towards batters, the Indian spinner expressed grief on the decreasing number of red-soil pitches in the country.
"The Chennai pitch has got solid bounce. I will any day play on a surface like this (batting-friendly red-soil) and get hit than play on other surfaces," the 38-year-old said.
"The surfaces act very differently at different times of the year. We have lost a lot of red-soil pitches over the years, which is a key component of playing Test cricket in India."
He also said that playing on red soil pitches were better than black soil ones where one could toil for long without any reward.
"You play on some black clay surfaces around the country, and without naming them, you have to do a lot of hard work, put a lot of revs and see nothing come out of it.
"Sometimes it's better to not put revs on it in certain places. So, to understand these is a fair amount of learning," he added.
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