India Vs New Zealand 3rd Test: R Ashwin Feels Chasing Even 150 Won't Be Easy

R Ashwin admitted that even a target of 150 would not be easy for the Indian team to chase in the third Test against New Zealand going on at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. (More Cricket News)

New Zealand ended the second day at 171 for 9 in their second innings with an overall lead of 143. The pitch has been tricky from the opening day with spinners getting a lot of turn alongside the invariable bounce. Ashwin believes to chase even a small target on the pitch, India will have to bat really well.

"Hopefully not many, we should wrap it up with one or two runs here and there. Any runs saved in this innings is going to be much more critical. It's not going to be easy, we'll have to bat really well," Ashwin told former teammate Dinesh Karthik in a snap interview for Jio Cinema.

Ashwin expected a typical Wankhede surface with a lot more bounce than what we have seen in this match.

"Expected a lot more bounce. It has been quite slow which is a surprise. It's not a typical Bombay pitch, much slower."

Two of Ashwin's three wickets in the second innings came off carrom balls. The off-spinner told the reasoning behind using his surprise weapon.

"The game itself is divided into two halves. The one from the pavilion end and from the other end, it's slightly behaving differently. It's slightly flatter from the one where we are bowling from the dressing room side, the bounce is much lesser. So I thought I will try and use it the other way.

"The (NZ) batters are also knowing that it's easier to take me on from this side. So I wanted to give something different," he gave his reasons.

On his brilliant catch running 19 metres sideways to pouch in-from Daryl Mitchell, Ashwin said that he trusted his hands.

"For all the flak you've given me overs the years (to Karthik), I don't think I've dropped many. I have got great hands and I trusted it. I was just telling myself that it's going to anyway leave me, I wanted to get as close to the ball as possible," he concluded.

With PTI inputs