ASHWIN 2.0

Ravichandran Ashwin - the legspinner under construction

by MS Ramakrishnan • Last updated on

With Ashwin slowly being recognised as a Test specialist, it's crucial he adds to his arsenal to turn the attention back at him. © BCCI

There is that extra interest for Tamil Nadu games nowadays with Ravichandran Ashwin raising eyebrows with the talk of bowling legspin consistently in domestic games. The gallery was almost full even before the first ball was bowled at the SSN college ground in Chennai on Thursday (February 8) as Tamil Nadu hosted Mumbai in their Group C Vijay Hazare Trophy fixture.

Loud screams of "Ashwin, Ashwin," echoed around the ground as college students thronged to catch a glimpse of their college alumnus. Sitting quietly in the VIP area was national selector MSK Prasad, who was keeping a close eye on proceedings.

For Ashwin, it was quite clear that he had to up his game somehow to get back in the reckoning, having not been picked for white-ball cricket in recent times with India putting emphasis on wrist-spin over finger spin. He had done his bit with the bat in the first half of the game, but the cameras zoomed in on Ashwin the bowler in the second half.

The Tamil Nadu pacers had given the side a bright start despite defending a below-par 183. Ashwin came in to bowl to maintain the pressure, but more importantly be effective with his much talked about legspin. The strategy was quite clear from the 31-year-old. If it was a right-hander, it was all legspin, while he chose to bowl offspin against left-handers.

The load up to the crease was so Anil Kumble like with the jump, and with the height being in his favour, he got them to grip the surface and bounce as well. What was startling to observe was the control with which he was operating, almost as if he took all those international wickets bowling legspin.

There were deliveries that pitched in line with the stumps and spun square past the bat as there was some help for the spinners from the surface. Bowling with a bowling-machine like accuracy, the batsmen had to show a lot of respect.

He raised the excitement in the air in one over, when he got the ball to rip off the 22 yards past senior player Suryakumar Yadav's bat for three successive deliveries with the latter having no clue trying to defend. Suryakumar managed to escape strike off the fourth ball, but skipper Aditya Tare bore the brunt next ball when he edged Ashwin to slip to build tension in the Mumbai camp.

A few minutes later, he forced a false shot off Suryakumar, who was trying to unsettle Ashwin with a big hit. With the ball being nice and full, the batsman went for an inside-out lofted hit, but Ashwin got the ball to turn more than Suryakumar expected and he hit it squarer towards deep cover, where Ganga Sridhar Raju took a stunning diving catch to his right.

The decibel levels rose high when Ashwin ran across the field pointing towards someone - probably in the dressing room - in his celebration. All of a sudden, Mumbai were reduced to 79 for 5 and Tamil Nadu sensed a real opportunity. He came back for another burst and broke a vital 71-run sixth wicket stand, but it was his first spell of 7-1-18-2 that was most talked about and it indeed was a truly inspirational effort.

"I played him for the first time and I was finding it difficult (to bat against his legspin), the wicket was helpful for the spinners, so it was not easy to play an experienced bowler like him," said Shubham Ranjane who batted against Ashwin for quite some time during his match-winning fifty.

From the outside, it appeared that Ashwin was bowling the normal leggie and the flipper or the straighter one, while the googly, which is still under process, did not come out much. But whatever it was, the batsmen found it tough to handle his variations.

"It was difficult to pick him. One ball was turning and one wasn't, so it was not easy to play against the spin or play the big shot when he was bowling," Ranjane added.

With him practising legspin for a considerable amount of time and with the dominance of wrist spin in limited-overs cricket of late, will Ashwin become a full-time leg-spinner at least to right-handers with the white ball? Time will tell.

What is sure for now is that he will bowl legspin in this tournament and as admitted, in the IPL too.

© Cricbuzz

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