Ravichandran Ashwin, who has been the tormentor in this series, said that lower batsmen can no longer called as tailend batsmen after Peter Siddle (47 no) led a late order resistance. “They batted well. We have to give them credit. But we have to stick to our plans and see what happens because if any lower order batsman can bat well, you have to give them the respect they deserve. Someone like Pattinson has a good average of 30. There are no more tailenders in international cricket who come in, slog and get out,” he pointed out.
As for the wicket, Ashwin said it was breaking. “This is black soil, Chennai is red soil. It’s evident that black soil doesn’t bounce as much as red soil. But it is breaking up, we just hope it breaks up more,” he added.
On a day when he took four wickets to take his tally to 26 wickets in this series, the 26-year-old off-spinner said he cherished the wicket of Steve Smith. “The delivery to Smith (caught at short leg) was a much better one than Mitchell Johnson. It was just an error on the part of Johnson to leave that delivery. The Smith delivery was probably the best one,” he said.