Kuldeep Yadav. (AFP Photo)

NOTTINGHAM: Dilip Doshi has made England his home for a while now. But the former India left-arm spinner was at the Trent Bridge on Monday to savour the success of the Indian team that is closing in on a win in the third Test.

When TOI caught up with him, the spinner was quite effusive about the way R Ashwin has bowled in this series so far. "I am very happy that he has understood the importance of his stock ball - the off-break. For a good spinner, 98 per cent of his deliveries should be the stock ball and he was earlier bothering a little too much about his variation," Doshi said. "He is a much-improved bowler and if he is fit, I think he is going to play a significant role in the second innings of this Test as well."

The other bowler who came up for discussion was chinaman Kuldeep Yadav and according to Doshi, who has 114 Test wickets at an average of 30.71, the Uttar Pradesh bowler still has a lot to learn.

"He is a young kid who is learning, still too raw for Test cricket. He is very slow in the air because his non-bowling arm falls apart very early in his delivery stride," Doshi said, adding that it's an area that he can work on very easily. "It's fine in T20s and ODIs where you only bowl four or 10 overs. But your deficiencies get exposed in Test cricket too fast," Doshi added.

Though Doshi himself was an orthodox left-armer who loved getting batsmen with flight and guile, he is quite appreciative of Ravindra Jadeja as well, who is much faster through the air. "He is quite good you see, he bowls steady and straight and with the DRS there, you get a lot more leg-befores. I would love to see him play the next Test match," Doshi added.

The recent trend of wrist-spinners falling out of favour, too, came up for discussion and Doshi doesn't want to read too much into it. "These are cycles, but yes I am surprised that batsmen find it so difficult to read spinners from the hands. But let me tell you one thing, the quality of spin bowling has come down quite drastically. Many of these guys who play international cricket these days wouldn't have come close to the national team in the 1970s and 80s," the former Bengal captain said.

Doshi played quite a bit of is first-class cricket for Nottinghamshire and it made him happy to see Virat Kohli marching ahead at his former home. "He is really playing with great responsibility and character. The way he has adjusted his to the demands of the conditions proves that he is a great batsman," Doshi said.

