Tough at MCG, but Ashwin-Jadeja are intelligent, says Fawad Ahmed

Melbourne On March 25 1992 a 10yearold watches his countrys cricketing superstars on TV as Pakistan clinch the World Cup at the Melbourne Cricket Ground Around two decades later the very venue becomes his home ground as he represents Victoria in the prestigious Sheffield Shield after seeking asylum in Australia in 2010 following death threats back homeFawad AhmedIndeed legspinner Fawad Ahmeds story is a fascinating one Ahmed who lives in the Williamstown suburb of west Melbourne played three ODIs and two T20Is for Australia before form deserted him two years ago Currently however hes on a roll having emerged as the leading wickettaker 41 wickets as Victoria stormed into the final of the Sheffield Shield where they take on Western Australia in Hobart from SaturdayIn an interview with midday Ahmed 33 who has excelled for Victoria at the MCG reveals why he feels Indian spinners will also do well at this venue where they play Bangladesh in the quarterfinal here tomorrowExcerptsOn the role of spin in the World CupNormally in Australian conditions spin does not play a very important role The conditions here support pace and bounce However at this World Cup we have seen that good spinners like Ravichandran Ashwin Ravindra Jadeja Imran Tahir and Daniel Vettori can succeed if they bowl smartly This World Cup has favoured spinners quite a bitRavindra Jadeja and Ravichandran AshwinOn spin conditions at the Melbourne Cricket GroundThe MCG wicket does support spinners but only if you bowl first I have bowled a lot here and I have always done well if Im bowling first The MCG strip is a dropin one so there is no question of it deteriorating or breaking up It only gets flatter and flatter as a match proceeds so spinners will find it difficult to extract turn later on But India have nothing to worry as far as their spin department is concerned Ashwin and Jadeja are very intelligent bowlersThe idea is to attack early which means if there are less runs on the board or a couple of early wickets have fallen then the spinner should bowl with full flight and loop luring the batsman to play big shots and hope he makes an error as the MCG is a big ground But if there a lot of runs on the board a spinner cant do much apart from bowling flatter and quicker With wickets getting flatter thicker bats and the nature of the Kookaburra ball that just flies spinners nowadays have to be good thinkers more than anything else And fortunately for India Ashwin and Jadeja are very good at thisOn his World Cup favouritesIndia and Australia are the two hot favourites for sure New Zealand are also looking good and Pakistan on their day can beat anyone The way they beat South Africa so easily by 29 runs was amazing Australia are under a lot of pressure as they are the hosts but India are playing great cricket Indias batting and spin bowling have always been good but the way their pacers Umesh Yadav Mohammad Shami and Mohit Sharma are bowling consistently in the 140 kmph region is veryimpressive Pakistan are also riding on their pacers like Wahab Riaz and so are Australia with Mitchell Starc and Mitchell JohnsonOn his form and a possible Australia recallIve not been able to watch a lot of the World Cup because Ive been continuously playing Shield cricket In fact we would have loved for our final to be at the MCG but due to the World Cup that was not possible Thanks to the Almighty Im doing well and getting a lot of wickets I think Im in fine form at the moment and every Shield player dreams of playing for the country so if the national call comes I will be honoured to play for Australia again Otherwise Im happy playing Shield cricket Its my job and I love itOn life in AustraliaI had to come here because I received death threats back home due to my association with an NGO which promoted women rights I feel this has been the best decision of my life Australia is absolutely amazing Pakistanis love their sport At one stage we were holding three World Cups mdash hockey squash and cricket And Melbourne is the sporting capital of the world so I love it here even though I live here aloneOn missing his familyI was born and brought up in Swabi district in Pakistan where we have a joint family system Obviously I miss my family a lot I miss my mother in particular my father passed away I have not been able to go home since I came here in 2010 as I have been very busy with my cricket I cant wait to meet my mother but I have to honour my cricket commitments here too