Cricket: Ashwin fires India to innings win

Spinner finishes with 12 wickets as hosts down New Zealand in 1st Test.

HYDERABAD: Ravichandran Ashwin exposed New Zealand’s batting limitations against spin with a second successive six-wicket haul as India won the opening Test by an innings and 115 runs.

The off-spinner (six for 54) was superbly supported by left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha (three for 48) as New Zealand, following on after conceding a 279-run lead, collapsed to 164 in their second-innings on the penultimate day.

Man-of-the-match Ashwin, who grabbed a career-best six for 31 in the first-innings, finished with his best match-haul in seven Tests.

It was also the best performance by an Indian in a Test against New Zealand, surpassing 12 for 152 by off-spinner Srinivas Venkataraghavan in 1965.

“It’s a good start and the pressure is off my back. I can enjoy myself and let the ball do the talking,” said Ashwin. “I enjoyed the wicket. There was enough in it for the bowlers and it was a very good batting wicket as well.”

New Zealand were comfortably placed at 98 for one before losing their last nine wickets for just 66 runs in a dramatic collapse on a spinner-friendly track.

“I guess any time you are bowled out for 160 both times, you have got to be disappointed,” said New Zealand captain Ross Taylor. “Spin is an area we need to work on and come back harder.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2012.