Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who has already conceded over 100 runs without taking a wicket in the first innings of ongoing second Test against Australia, said that SCG wicket had nothing to offer for spinners.

“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,”

“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,” Ashwin said.

Indian seamers have also failed badly as they took just one wicket and Australian batsmen scored 366 runs on day two. Dhoni has also been under criticism for his negative field placements, but Ashwin has backed defensive field settings

“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 said.

With Australia are leading by 291 runs, Ashwin has admitted that it’s going to be a catch-up game for the touring side.

“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,” he said.

“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.