There was not enough on offer for spinners: Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin was on song again, as was Ravindra Jadeja, as they picked up four wickets apiece to bowl South Africa out for 214 and put India in a commanding at the end of day one of the second Test at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru. Ashwin, who attended the press conference at the end of the day's play, praised Jadeja for his fine show with the ball while he also spoke about his performance, South Africa's batting approach, the nature of the pitch and what to expect on day two, among other things. Excerpts:

On the toss and India's decision to bowl first:I don't know. Now it seems so, at least (when asked if India took the right decision). The wicket was a little damp, that's the feeling we got initially, so we wanted to bowl first and see what we could extract, and even the first-class games being played here, generally the first day it does a little bit. So taking all that into consideration I think it was a very rational decision.

On not having a cover fielder against the right-handers:From Sri Lanka I've not put a cover in place. There have been times when I have been cut through backward point where I've tried to really drop the ball short of the batsman and all that, but even when those runs have gone it's been conscious, it's not like it's fallen in the wrong place, but it gives me a chance to open up the gate, to open my options in the slip region as well. So that way I think it's the confidence and also a bit of planning that goes into not having a cover fielder.

On South Africa's approach against the spinners:I don't think there was enough on offer for the spinners. We were not beating the bat as often as we were doing in Mohali, but Jadeja was very very good in the session after lunch, he was bottling one end up, which was precisely our plan and from there on they played a few false shots and brought us back into the game. Even at the end we were very conscious of the fact that we might go for about 50-60 runs for the last 2-3 wickets but I think we were pretty aware of what was going to come and we bowled quite well to them.

On picking the batsman's body language:Whenever anybody walks in to the middle I give myself a 60-40 chance. I think I have the best chance when he's around for the first 15-20 minutes, especially the way it's coming out of my hand and the kind of pace variations I'm able to use now. I'm very confident of the fact that I can beat anybody in the air in the first 20 minutes, and from there on, after the first 20 minutes, every batsman comes out with a different plan for a particular game. So if somebody has got out in the previous game - especially when Duminy came out it looked like he had a plan - so after the first 15-20 minutes you gauge as to what are the shots he's looking for, and where essentially I should not be bowling to that batsman in that particular innings. These are the kind of observations I try and make, but initially, first 15-20 minutes, I give myself a fair chance of getting him out.

On South Africans playing Ashwin and not the delivery:Not really. I think it depends on the ball that's coming out. I'm very confident, yes, and there will be some kind of hesitancy in any batting order when a person is getting wickets, that's pretty natural. But I think today was a case of good bowling and also a lot of pressure being built up from both sides of the pitch.

On Ajinkya Rahane's catching:See, Ajinkya (Rahane) at slip has been amazing. He seems to be pulling off all the catches that are coming his way at this point of time. It is very important - we are not even thinking in the region of, saying okay, changing someone, chopping and changing, that's not even happening. We want Ajinkya at slip and that's the kind of confidence that's very important for the bowler at the top of his mark. Even the catch he took today of Duminy was a very very good catch, he made it look very easy. I'm not sure how many people took notice of it, but in the past there have been catches that have gone down, so I pretty much know how important in the field he is right now.

On the pitch tomorrow and day three:I don't know. I think it's going to be hard work, I think when the sun comes out, the wicket will probably dry out a little bit and it will be harder for the spinners. Even today, when the batsmen were actually applying themselves and playing a few shots in the regions that can be putting-off for a spinner, it was a bit difficult to come back in and bowl a tight line against them. This ground, as all of us know, is a high-scoring ground. It is a ground where stopping the run-scoring is very difficult. So I think day two and day three we need to bat long and try and ensure we put a lot of pressure on them when they come to bat in the second innings.

On AB de Villiers' knock:Of course AB played really well, but there were occasions where he looked really edgy, it was not like he was completely taking the game away from us. Of course he played some lovely shots, he knows this ground really well, he knows his angles well, so he was looking to target a few regions in the ground, which was very evident, and once AB is in, 40-50 runs batting, it's always going to be a tough call, because he's a world-class batsman. You know it's going to take some good delivery to prise him out. But I think we constantly kept getting wickets so the thought never came across our mind that one man can take this away, so it was proper Test match cricket.

On the healthy rivalry between the spinnersI haven't even given it a thought. Honestly I think I'm just going about doing my work, and even when Jaddu is bowling I try and tell what I can and share my experience with him. He's actually bowling really well, and he knows his limitations and his strengths as well, so that really helps him. For a team like us, especially in the afternoon session, he comes in very handy. He's very accurate, and you know this is what you're going to get out of him. In Test cricket it's very important to know what you're going to get out of a particular player.

On the ball changes:I don't want to pick on a brand and get into trouble, but I think the same ball that I bowled with, in first-class cricket, five-six ago, it's not the same. There's definitely a lot of balls that are going out of shape. The arm ball - especially for a spinner, when you're trying to bowl an arm ball, the seam is not sitting high at all, so at this point of time, I seem to be enjoying the Kookaburra a lot more.

On striking early on day one:Generally as a spinner you want to get into a right length, drop into the perfect length for that wicket and identify what pace will give you a little bit of spin. But as soon as I got van Zyl out the next batsman in was Faf, so I was expecting him to step out a little so I wanted to drop my length once he did that, and that was a conscious effort, but to start with a couple of wickets in your first over, you can't ask for a better start.

On what to expect in the first session on day two:As always in Test cricket the first session will be crucial, I guess, but we started pretty well. They have a pretty paltry score on the board, I think it's about 220 that we are looking to chase down. It's going to be important that we bat long more than the amount of score on the board. If we bat long and put pressure on them it's going to be tough work for them in the second innings.