‘Didn't close out the game when the initiative was on our side’ – Ashwin

It was an excellent Test match, one which could have gone either way. In the end, it seemed like it had to be Virat Kohli doing it all with the bat for the visitors. Once he was gone for 51 during India’s chase, it was all over bar the shouting for England, which came soon after on cue.

“I think this is a game where we would have liked to finish on the winning side. No doubt about it. But there are a lot of things we can feel proud of at the end of this game,” said Ashwin, who returned 4/62 and 3/59 in a memorable bowling performance.

“It's a long Test series, so to feel defeated or pained so early on in the series is unfair. At the moment, it is all about the feelings that I am bringing out, and I don't feel that bad about it as of now because I thought we competed really well and made two comebacks and probably didn't close out the game when the initiative was on our side. That's something that can happen when you are traveling, so we are upbeat about it.”

Indeed, after Kohli’s 149 helped India finish the first-innings exchanges only 13 runs behind, Ashwin and Ishant Sharma had England on the ropes at 87/7, and it was time to finish the game off. But Sam Curran’s 63 in 65 balls helped England recover and set India a 194-run target, which proved too much.

“Like Virat keeps mentioning, when you make runs and pick up wickets, you want to make sure that it is a killer blow and you want to end up on the winning side. It gives you more pleasure out of the game and when it doesn't happen you feel a little deflated about it,” pointed out Ashwin.

“This game was like a see-saw battle, and there was enough in there for the quicks and it was doing quite a bit. So they were always in the game and you do expect batsmen to get a ball that has their name on it. So with that sort of a game hanging on the balance, I thought we competed really well.”

One might not have expected Ashwin to have as big a say in the goings-on as he did, and once he did so well, there was talk of India, perhaps, missing a second spinner.

“For me, it's all about this mental space I find myself in. I don't dwell much into the way I have bowled, it is in the past as of now. It is important to try and learn from this game and take it to the next game. These are not conditions that are extremely suitable or tailor-made for a spinner so I would like to take confidence out of this game and try and move ahead and build on this,” Ashwin offered.

That Ashwin was so successful is partly down to his quality – 323 wickets in 59 Tests now – and also the fact that he spent time with Worcestershire last season, adding to his skill-set and getting used to the conditions in England.

“Personally, there were quite a few learnings from my stint last year here. Not just in terms of pure skill but also how the game is being read here and players go about their business in terms of pacing out their innings and how much the Dukes ball does in the first 40 overs,” he explained.

“And how wide my grip can be, and how close I can get to it as the ball moves on. I felt like the ball was slipping also when I came last time for Worcester, so that was also in my mind when I came this time.”

The second Test will begin at Lord’s on 9 August.