Ravichandran Ashwin speaks on his terrific success against Australia and the effort behind it

Ravichandran Ashwin was in sizzling touch against Australia in the second ODI where he clinched three important wickets, underlining his importance and giving the Indian team management a tough headache ahead of the World Cup. Keeping the ifs and buts aside, Ashwin left Australia in shambles after clinching three major wickets in the last game.

His exploits included the wicket of David Warner, whose attempted reverse sweep went horribly wrong while the mystery ball against Marnus Labuschagne was a work of art from Ashwin. His final victim of the day was none other than Josh Inglis, whose feet could barely move as the off-spinner registered his third wicket.

Talking about the delivery that got Marnus in the second ODI, Ashwin highlighted the details and the amount of hard yards that he had to put in order to perfect the execution. Opening up in a video posted by BCCI, the Indian offie said, “I wanted to keep the length perfectly, in terms of trying to keep it away from the batter and also change pace.”

He further added, “I felt they were not picking it off the hand that very well. So maybe that angle that I’m creating and the change of grip - I’m using my third finger to bowl the carrom ball and the off-break - maybe, hopefully, it will hold me in good stead.”

Also revealing his practice regime at the NCA, Ash said, “I worked a little bit with Sairaj (Bahutule) at NCA. Working on different angles and slightly different grips. I asked him to watch from front and back, we worked on it for three-four days. For how much ever cricket I have played over the years, I should have done this a long time ago. But I am doing it now at least. So I am glad.”

He concluded by talking about his variations, stating, “It is something that I have been working on and wanting to do, because when I go into this sort of a carrom ball, slider ball, the angles are pretty similar, the lines and the release points are very similar. So I wanted to bring both edges into play, which I was able to do. It has been in the offing for a while and I’m glad I was able to execute.”