Ashwin says altering approach helped him at No. 6

R Ashwin has a career strike rate of 55.35 with the bat. But in his first three innings at No. 6, he has scored his runs at 40.90. Speaking to the media after scoring his second hundred of those three innings, and becoming only the fourth allrounder ever to score two hundreds and take two five-wicket hauls in the same Test series, Ashwin said his promotion up the order had induced a conscious change of approach with the bat.

“It’s difficult to try and think too far ahead [at No. 6],” Ashwin said. “That’s easily possible if you are batting at No. 7 or 8, which has happened to me before when I have batted at No. 8. When I have batted at No. 8, you think like a bowler at times and want to get a few extra runs. So I used to play a few more shots.

“Thankfully I had a very good preparation one month before the series. I batted quite a lot and devised a gameplan if and when I got a chance to bat at No. 6. The idea was to knock as many balls as possible. My goal is very simple. If I get a good start, if I get to 20 runs then I’m going to capitalise on it. Then I’m going to play percentage cricket. It’s all about trying to play the percentages and trying to string together a partnership and not look too far ahead in the game.

“One thing I try to do is to bat sessions. There have been times when I’ve scored hundreds in two sessions or less than two sessions. This is kind of different, but I do enjoy it. It’s time-consuming and concentration-consuming but it’s enjoyable.”

Ashwin came in to bat at 87 for 4, and was joined by Wriddhiman Saha at 126 for 5. They added 213 for the sixth wicket, allowing India to post a first-innings total of 353. Ashwin said his 118, which lasted 297 balls and was his longest Test innings – could prove a “series-defining” effort.

“It is …

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