'I have been bowling really well and my confidence is sky high'
Ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Tuesday registered his best figures in Test cricket as India crushed New Zealand by 321 runs on Day four of the final Test to clinch the three match series 3-0 here at the Holkar Stadium in Indore on Tuesday.
- India thrash Kiwis by 321 runs to complete series clean sweep
- Ashwin: On his way to becoming the greatest
Chasing the daunting target of 475 runs, the Black Caps were bowled out for mere 153 inside 45 overs.
Ashwin, who took seven wickets in the final innings---his career best figures, finished with match figures of 13 for 140. In the process, Ashwin picked up his 21st five-wicket haul of his Test career.
The Chennai lad finished the three-match series against the Kiwis with 27 wickets.
His stupendous performance earned him the Man of the Match and Man of the Series awards, his fourth successive man-of-the-series award.
"First things first, I would like to thank the Indore crowd for coming out and supporting us. It was a wicket where you had to work hard to pick wickets. We had to change up the pace and that is because I had to get them to drive as the ball was carrying to short leg or leg slip," Ashwin said in the post Test match presentation.
"Special mention I have to give to Bhuvi (Bhuvaneshwar Kumar), (Mohammed) Shami and Umesh (Yadav). They contributed whenever we were not able to get the wickets. Virat told me that he is rotating the bowlers. I have been bowling really well and my confidence is sky high," he added.
The match was earlier set up by the record breaking stand between Kohli and Rahane. Sharing a record 365-run stand, they both bailed India out from 100/3 and enabled a mammoth 500-plus score. From there, Ashwin did his thing.
This was also India's 10 Test win under the captaincy of Virat Kohli.
India won the first Test in Kanpur by 197 runs and took an unassailable lead by defeating New Zealand by 178 runs at the EdenGardens in Kolkata.
