Written by Vaibhav Tripathi
Ravichandran Ashwin, the frontline spinner of Rajasthan Royals (RR), recently shared an intriguing conversation with Sandeep Sharma that took place during the last over of their game against Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
That particular match went down to the wire, with Dhoni almost pulling off the chase. Ashwin intervened and helped his compatriot plan better against his ex-skipper.
“Let me give you an example. Sandeep Sharma bowled that last over to Dhoni and he smashed him for two sixes. When you are defending 20 runs and when a guy like Dhoni has smashed you for two sixes, the odds of you coming out on top of that battle from there are literally none. I went to Sandeep Sharma and asked ‘What’s the highest risk ball at this point.’ He replied, ‘Slower length ball.’ I said, ‘You try bowling that to him now.'”
“At the end of the day, at that point in time, whatever is the riskiest ball, the batsman won’t be expecting that. Because, the batsman knows that the bowler is under immense pressure. So the batter won’t expect that ball from the bowler,” explained Ashwin on his YouTube channel.