I wanted to bowl in the right areas – Asha Sobhana on her reckoning display in the series opener

It was a stunning display from Asha Sobhana to kickstart her ODI career as she registered figures of 4/21 to blow South Africa away in the opening game of the series. Her exploits included the likes of Marizanne Kapp, Masabata Klaas, Nonkululeko Mlaba and Ayabonga Khaka.

Talking in a post-match presentation, Sobhana underlined her key strategy for the game while explaining the nitty gritties of the surface. She also thanked the team management for showing unwavering faith in her abilities.

Asha said, “I just kept it simple, I wanted to bowl in the right areas, I was in a good rhythm, I wanted to continue. I have been practising this [legspin] for years, I did not want to do anything extraordinary, wanted to focus on the basics.”

She further added, “There was a lot of turn on the wicket, did not want to give space to the batters, wanted to vary the pace so that the batters don't pick my variations. This stadium is very special for me, by the grace of god everything went well.”

Underlining the surface conditions, Asha added, “Pitch is amazing and a little bit of my effort as well. I woke up in the morning today and prayed to god that everything should go well, glad that it went well.”

She concluded by what the team management told her earlier and whether she was unhappy about missing out on a fifer, stating, “They just told me to enjoy, they had lot of confidence in my skills, they wanted me to go out and explore. Not really, I'm happy that my nation won.”