Avesh Khan who bagged 4 wickets in the 4th T20I match against South Africa said that the team hasn’t changed over four games, so credit to Rahul Dravid sir.
In the five-match T20I series, India lost the first 2 matches and get to the edge of losing the home series. But the young Indian team made a strong comeback by winning the 3rd and 4th match of the series and equals the series 2-2.
IND vs SA 4th T20I Post-match Press Conference
Avesh Khan – one of the key players of India’s second win of the series bagged 4 wickets for 18 runs in the 4th T20I.
In the first three matches, Avesh Khan struggled to pick a wicket and went wicketless but the Indian selection committee didn’t replace Avesh Khan in the followed match where he picked the four-wicket haul.
After the win, Dinesh Karthik called the dressing room a “calm, secure, and fuzzy place” and went on to credit head coach Rahul Dravid for that. Avesh, too, struck similar tones in his post-match press conference.
“The team hasn’t changed over four games, so credit to Rahul (Dravid) sir. He gives chances to everybody and intends to give them a long enough run. He doesn’t drop a player after one or two bad performances because you cannot judge a player on the basis of one or two games. Everyone is getting enough matches to prove themselves,” Avesh said.
“Yes, there was pressure on me. I had zero wickets in three games but Rahul sir and the team management gave me another opportunity today and I ended up picking four wickets. It’s also my papa’s birthday, so it’s a gift for him too.”
Avesh revealed that he wasn’t looking to bowl off-pace on a track that “wasn’t easy” for the batters. Instead, he looked to hit the hard length, a decision he arrived at after a mid-match discussion with Ishan Kishan.
“Whenever we are batting first, I always end up asking the batters how the wicket played, whether it was two-paced or not,” Avesh said.
“I spoke to Ishan (Kishan) today and he said that hard length balls aren’t easy to play; some are bouncing, some are stopping and the others are keeping low. Then I planned to attack the stumps and bowl the hard lengths consistently. It’s in my hands to bowl well, not pick wickets.
“The slower ball wasn’t very effective on today’s wicket, so I tried to bowl hard lengths with the occasional bouncer to change things up,” he added.
“Today’s wicket wasn’t easy for batters, it was two-paced although DK bhai, Hardik and Rishabh all played well. 170 was a very good total on this wicket and all we wanted to ensure was pick a couple of wickets in the powerplay.”
The decider and final match of the series will be played on June 19 in M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.
