Wicket had nothing to offer: Ashwin

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Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Wednesday defended his bowling after Australia plundered runs to take complete command of the second cricket Test, saying the SGC track had nothing to offer to the slow bowlers.

"As a spinner what is there on offer from that wicket? Nothing! It's not like I expect anything of a wicket in Australia on the second day. Not that I expect anything even back in India. It's the second day, you are not going to get much. We got bowled out inside the first day," he said after the second day's play which saw Australia take a mammoth 291-run first innings lead.

"It's always going to be catch up. Not just for the bowlers. As I said, you can't fault the efforts of the bowlers. They ran in hard. Ishant was clocking 140 in the final spell. That's all you can expect from the bowlers as of now," insisted Ashwin who gave away more than 100 runs without taking a wicket.

Most Indian bowlers, including Ashwin, bowled with defensive field today but the off-spinner defended the move.

"What else do you do with 191 in the pocket? You'll have to save every run possible. Supposing you get two or three wickets later on, and someone is having a good spell, we have those runs to play with later. That has got to be the only idea. It's common sense. Nothing else," he explained.

The young Tamil Nadu spinner conceded that his side will now have to play a catch-up game.

"It's going to be a catch-up game from now on. We will have to dig deep and bat long. One or two person will have to stand up and try to turn things around from now on," said a visibly frustrated Ashwin.

"But if you need to turn it around, you need players to stand up and make themselves counted. It has to come from within. You can't really sit together. It's all fine when you sit together and give all those speeches. Those speeches are very good to watch on TV. It has to come from within. You have to deliver out there," he added.