‘Once in a generation’: Ashwin’s ultimate accolade for Green

Ahmedabad: India’s bowler of the series, Ravichandran Ashwin, has labelled Cameron Green a “once-in-a-generation cricketer” after being unable to find a tactical path past the 23-year-old allrounder in Ahmedabad during his sublime first Test century.

There have been many Australian players made to look foolish by Ashwin at different times across the series, and Alex Carey was another on day two of the final Test as he skied a catch all too easily.

Cameron Green in full flight.Credit:AP

But in Green, who also handled Ashwin creditably in vastly more difficult conditions in Indore, Ashwin said the tourists had found someone who was going to haunt bowling attacks for many years to come – pointing to his $3 million IPL auction tag as proof.

“I hope you tuned into the IPL auction; it just tells you how the Indian cricketing fraternity rates Cameron Green,” Ashwin said. “I think he’s a fantastic player. Just the raw materials for a person as tall as him, lovely levers, good batting sense, can bowl and really hit the deck well, moves pretty well on the field.

“These are once-in-a-generation cricketers you are talking about. We come from different countries – India is very different, we can’t protect such players for a long period of time. It’s perform or perish. But in countries like Australia and England, they’re doing pretty well at that. I expect Cameron Green to be a wonderful cricketer down the line.”

Modestly, Ashwin admitted that there had been no planning around the leg side ball that ultimately dismissed Green via a faint glove touch on an attempted sweep shot. To that point, Ashwin had to work with the meagre assistance the Ahmedabad surface gave him.

“He’s got his strengths and you want to stay away from his strengths. Clearly from what he saw in Australia – I played a practice game against him at Drummoyne Oval in Sydney,” he said. “From there on, I’ve been watching him bat, how well he moves to balls outside off, how well he comes down the pitch, how he sweeps the ball when he came to the subcontinent.

“As a bowler it’s my duty to keep a check on all these things and also try to make a plan to try and make it uncomfortable for him. It was not a pitch where a lot of things were going for me. So I had to use the scrambled seam, drift, whatever was available.”

For Green, the innings was characterised by a series of booming drives off pace and spin that exhibited his power, technical prowess and ability to adapt to the advice of a seasoned partner in Usman Khawaja.

“I think speaking to Uzzy it was probably the ball coming back in where you might get your leg caught in the way and that might be the way to get out,” Green said. “So having an experienced head down the other end, you can have these really in-depth conversations and he gives you unreal info back.

“So I spoke to him pretty early on, he said he recommends batting on leg stump and using your bat and looking to play every ball, whether it’s swinging in or swinging out, so had really good convos with Uzzy.”

The influence of Khawaja and others on Green has helped to mould his talents in a very positive direction for Australian cricket. There is no sense that, as Khawaja had reflected the night before, Green is not being supported in every way to learn and succeed.

“With Uzzy, he’s an experienced head that’s played Test cricket for more than 10 years now,” Green said. “He’s so valuable for guys like myself and a few of the young guys in the team the way he goes about it.

“I’m trying to learn as much as I can off him, and luckily enough there are a lot of guys in the change rooms like that, you’ve got Travis Head, Marnus, Smudge, they’re all the best in the world at the moment, so I’m incredibly lucky I’ve got guys around like that.

“It’s my 20th Test so I’ve had a good chance to see the ups and downs of Test cricket, see it for what it is. It’s an incredibly tough game, and when you get moments like that you really cherish them. So yeah I’ve seen how tough Test cricket is and I’m enjoying every second of it.”

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