Avesh Khan has benefited team India in forcing South Africa to score their lowest total in the T20I format.
The last three matches have been a complete failure for team India, and significantly Avesh Khan did not get any wicket in the first three games.
It was certainly tough for Avesh Khan to play in the fourth innings after going wicketless in the last three matches. Avesh conceded 35 runs in the first game, 17 in the second, and 35 runs in the third.
Avesh hopefully compensated for all the last three games as he took 4 wickets for 18 runs which also included 3 wickets in a row.
Avesh stated that one should not be judged by one or two games and certainly his job is to bowl well and taking wickets is something which is not in his hands.
“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.”
“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.”
