Pitch was quite unresponsive on fifth day, outside edge was out of equation: Dravid
Kanpur: India head coach Rahul Dravid on Monday commended his spinners for putting up a great show on “quite an unresponsive” fifth day track with outside edges not coming into play in the drawn first Test against New Zealand. The Indians got nine New Zealand wickets but failed to dislodge the last pair of Rachin Ravindra and Ajaz Patel as the visitors managed a creditable draw after being down and out in the post-tea session. “We showed great composure and fighting spirit and worked really hard in that final session. It was quite an unresponsive pitch on the fifth day and really good effort to have taken eight wickets after lunch, three in that session and five in last session.
Phenomenal achievement: Dravid on Ashwin’s feat
Kanpur: India coach Rahul Dravid on Monday drew attention to the manner in which Ravichandran Ashwin has “grown” and “evolved” into a champion off-spinner, who has now become the country’s third highest wicket-taker in Tests. Ashwin dismissed Tom Latham to claim his 418th Test wicket and go past Harbhajan Singh on the fifth and final day of the opening Test against New Zealand here. He is now only behind Anil Kumble and Kapil Dev in the overall standings. “I think it’s a phenomenal achievement. I think you know Harbhajan Singh was a really fine bowler, someone I played a lot of cricket with; terrific bowler for India and what Ashwin has done, to be able to go past him in just 80 Test matches is phenomenal achievement,” Dravid said.