Living in present: Josh Tongue not thinking about Ashes after fine India series

India Today

Despite picking up 19 wickets in the ongoing England vs India series, Josh Tongue isn't thinking about his chances of making it into the squad for the upcoming Ashes series this year. Tongue said he is focussed on the present at the moment.

Transcript

00:00Go ahead, please. Thank you.

00:02Gus, how tough was that?

00:04Gus.

00:05Oh, sorry.

00:10Shall I leave it there?

00:12You're Josh, aren't you?

00:14Yeah, I'm Josh, yeah.

00:16I'll go this side.

00:18How tough was that today?

00:20You guys were down to three years at a pace attack

00:23and you had a lot of tough work to get through.

00:25Yeah, obviously going through from yesterday,

00:28knowing that we're going to be bowling quite a few overs out there.

00:30Obviously, it was unfortunate to whiz getting injured.

00:34No one likes that happening to any bowler.

00:37But yeah, it was obviously going to be a tough ask for us bowlers,

00:41but I thought we stuck at it very well.

00:43In terms of the target, it's got up pretty high.

00:46What's the general feeling in the dressing room there about what's doable?

00:49Pretty chilled. Not much overthinking about it.

00:53I got asked the same question at Headonley.

00:57So I don't see why not we can't chase down these runs.

01:00Yeah, I mean, how much does that fill you guys with confidence

01:03that you've chased down a 3-7 at Headingley,

01:05that some of the guys in the dressing room would have done it three years ago

01:08against India also?

01:09There's plenty of reasons for optimism if you look for them.

01:12Yeah, I think how we play as a batting unit is obviously very positive

01:16and very exciting.

01:19And yeah, the batting line that we've got, I can't see why we can't give it a good go.

01:23And if I can just ask as well, I know obviously Chris was unable to help you out with the ball

01:28and do his bit there.

01:29Is there any chance whatsoever he's still knocking about?

01:33Can he hold a bat with one hand?

01:35I'm not sure.

01:36Will, please.

01:37Josh, you finished as England's leading wicket-taker in a series

01:42while you're playing three games.

01:43Can I just ask you to assess how you think your series has gone

01:46and do you feel like you've improved throughout the series?

01:49I think a lot of up and downs.

01:51I feel like sometimes I didn't bowl as best as I could,

01:54especially the first day here.

01:56Let's just say I forgot about that first over.

01:58But yeah, obviously very chuffed to get the wickets

02:02and the main thing is getting the wickets for the team

02:04and putting us in good positions to win games of cricket.

02:06Sorry, just to go back to that first over on day one here.

02:08Have you ever had an over like that before?

02:11And especially on such a big stage, how were you feeling at that point?

02:15I don't think I've had anything like that before.

02:18I think there was probably a bit of nerves as well,

02:20obviously missing the last two test matches.

02:23I think it was only my second game here at the Oval as well.

02:27But yeah, I soon forgot about that over and sort of cracked on.

02:32We'll go to Mike, please.

02:34Josh, well done.

02:35You can't have gone through the range of emotions very often

02:40like you would have done on Thursday

02:42where you go from the first over

02:44to producing a couple of absolute jaffers to take wickets,

02:47which were virtually unplayable deliveries.

02:49Have you ever experienced anything like that before?

02:52Obviously, I know when I put the ball in a good area,

02:55I've got a good chance of getting the wicket.

02:57I feel like any of our bowlers are in the same position as well.

03:01But yeah, as soon as I got over that first over

03:05and obviously getting the wicket as well,

03:07obviously helps your confidence.

03:08So yeah, I was happy to get the wicket for the team.

03:11We'll go to the back of the room.

03:13Josh, you bowled on all three days of the test match.

03:16How do you think the surface has progressed over the three days?

03:19I'd say obviously the first two days it did quite a bit from that good length.

03:25I think the heavy roll has probably made a difference in it today.

03:29There was still the odd ball that did a bit for us,

03:32but it was just the hang in there as much as we could.

03:35Bowling a good line in length and hopefully the pitch doing a bit for us.

03:39And obviously tonight as well you saw the odd ball just jumping at a length.

03:45But yeah.

03:46We're going to go to Laurence on our right.

03:48Go ahead.

03:49Hi Josh, how much would you like to go to Australia this winter

03:51and how much do you think your performance over the three tests you've played

03:54will put you in good stead for that?

03:56I'm sort of, I'm just thinking now really.

03:59I'm not thinking ahead.

04:00That's all.

04:01And then last one here at the front, please.

04:03Josh, when Akash Deep came today, he obviously came as a night watchman yesterday

04:12and he kept on going the momentum and he wasn't getting out and you weren't.

04:17What was the conversation between the bowling unit?

04:19Was it frustrating to see a night watchman piling up those runs?

04:23Yeah, it's obviously frustrating.

04:25It's happened to me many a times where we just sort of said as a bowling unit,

04:30just bowl your best ball for as long as you can.

04:32And hopefully they either nick one or you bowl him.

04:35But yeah, obviously you've got a few runs, but yeah.

04:38Okay.

04:39I think we're done.

04:40Perfect.

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