CHENNAI: Ravichandran Ashwin has attributed his variations in speed and simplifying of action as one of the reasons for his improving overseas record.The off-spinner on Wednesday picked up four wickets, including the one of Alastair Cook with the new ball. Talking to bowling coach Bharathi Arun at the end of play on Day 1 in Edgbaston, he pointed out how extensively he had worked on deceiving batsmen through the air, irrespective of conditions.
Entering this series with just three wickets in two Tests in England, Ashwin was often overlooked for Ravindra Jadeja whenever India played overseas. But last season, Ashwin played for Worcestershire, something that he said has helped him immensely while bowling in unresponsive English conditions.
“When I came here last year, the first thing that I realised was the speed with which bowlers bowl here,” Ashwin told bcci.tv. “The conditions here are extremely slow, even on the first day. You can get a bit of bounce, but if your pace is not right, then batsmen get a lot of time to play the same ball off both their front and back-foot. That is something I realised very quickly after coming here.”
On Wednesday, when Virat Kohli threw him the ball in the seventh over, Ashwin varied his pace, mostly operating between 86 and 93kph. Though he occasionally bowled quicker ones that went in with his arm, his traditional off-spinners were a lot slower. In fact, when he dismissed Cook and Jos Buttler, he slowed his pace, allowing the ball to turn from the surface. It also helped him draw batsmen forward and deceive them in the air.
This was something Ashwin tried even in Centurion earlier this year. On a Day 1 pitch, he varied his pace to emerge as the best India bowler in a Test that was dominated by South Africa pacers. “Even in the last 12-18 months, I played a lot of club cricket. I was working on simplifying my action a bit and making sure that I can get more body into my deliveries. I tried to create something in the air.”
It is also interesting that Ashwin has chosen to simplify his action, particularly given the fact that it had fetched him a bucketful of wickets during the 2016-17 season.While it is normal for bowlers to alter their action a bit when things aren’t going their way, Ashwin has done the opposite; something that he believes has allowed him to do more in the air. “You are a touch short or a touch fuller. In one of those pursuits, I thought simplifying my action was very important. Because I went through a very good phase of bowling with a particular action, a lot of bad habits had crept in, with my arms coming in and all that. We spoke about it as well (he and Arun). Those are the things I’ve had to really work on against my own will. I told myself that I had to work on my action again.”
When Ashwin was constantly benched during the 2014-15 season — a period where India played most of their Tests in South Africa, New Zealand, England and Australia — he had worked with Arun on improving his load-up, which was troubling him. That subsequently provided him with better balance and added more spin to his bowling. “We’ve always spoken about having to take the pitch out of the equation, especially considering how good the wickets are and how modern-day batsmen really enjoy playing on them,” he told Arun.
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