After Kiwis spinner Ajaz Patel said chasing even a modest total in Wankhede could be difficult for Indian batters on Day 3, the experienced Ravichandran Ashwin also voiced similar feelings.
Ashwin, who picked three New Zealand wickets at Mumbai on Saturday, admitted that a chase of around 150 won't be very easy for the Indian batters on a not-so-typical Wankhede turner, where the track is behaving differently at two ends.
New Zealand ended the second day at 171 for 9 in their second innings with an overall lead of 143 which many like former India captain and head coach Anil Kumble believes is a challenging target if one factors in the track.
"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.
What surprised Ashwin is the nature of low bounce, not exactly synonymous with red soil Mumbai surfaces which helps the ball to fly.
"Expected a lot more bounce. It has been quite slow which is a surprise. It's not a typical Bombay pitch, much slower."
Ashwin, India's very own "bowling scientist" to many, explained why he used the carrom ball, the one bowled with a flick of two fingers which turns the other way round. The similar delivery got Glenn Phillips who didn't read him from the hand.
"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.
