I Gave Pandya a Cheeky Idea to Try a Mankad in the End: R Ashwin

India pulled off a thrilling one-run win against Bangladesh in the World T20 at Bengaluru on Wednesday.

Hardik Pandya had to save eleven runs in the last over and three Bangladeshi batsmen got out in the last three balls.

R Ashwin was the man of the match for picking up two wickets for 20 runs. He got the all important wicket of Shakib Al Hasan.

Ashwin said that he gave Pandya a cheeky idea to try a Mankad in the end of Bangladesh’s innings.

I probably gave him a cheeky idea to try a mankad in the end. We might have taken flak, but why not.

R Ashwin

Ashwin also gave his insight to what went on during the last delivery bowled by Pandya.

Before that ball, everybody got together and decided what we wanted to do. My idea was to bowl a bouncer, I think that’s the toughest ball to hit for a lower-order batsman. He missed it and we won the game.

R Ashwin

On Dhoni taking off his right glove, Ashwin said:

It made sense to run to the stumps. It could have ricocheted off had he thrown with gloves on. If we didn’t win, we could have had a Super Over and lost the match. I thought when Mushfiq hit that boundary, I thought they would nudge it around. But Hardik held his nerve. He had to bowl the last over, he and Nehra bowled really well. The other choice was Yuvraj.

R Ashwin