Ben Stokes is taking the world by storm: Ravichandran Ashwin

Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin has taken a bit of a break from limited-overs cricket as he gave the ODI and T20I leg of India’s tour of Sri Lanka a miss and is rather in England. He signed up for Worcestershire and made his County Championship debut against Gloucestershire. Ashwin started the game with a 36 and picked up a three-wicket haul in the first innings.

As the game progressed he just kept getting better. The off-spinner in the second innings bagged his 38th five-wicket haul in first-class cricket to conclude his debut game with figures of 8/162. Ashwin is in England since the national team has a tour of England slated for 2018 and given his struggles outside the sub-continent it is a good opportunity for him to get a feel of the conditions that would prove handy for India.

In the Ravi Ashwin’s words, he is in England to enjoy his time, learn things and see if he can implement the lessons in his game. He isn’t concerned about the numbers he is able to rack up this time though would want to make the best of it when he turns up again as a part of the Test team.

Challenges in England?

“These sort of experiences don’t come at a cheap cost, you will have to go through it and you will have to enjoy the ride and that is what I am here for not so much really the performance. For me, it’s only about the ride and if I can take something back, learn and implement, that’s all I can ask for,” he said in a chat with BBC.co.uk

Ashwin hasn’t really been able to assess particular challenges for his style of bowling in these conditions since he hasn’t played as much cricket in the UK.

“I’ve not played a great deal in England, to be able to say what are the challenges I have been facing or I might face, but one thing is for sure coming over and playing a Test series abroad is not easy you will have to give it a lot more. In order to win those Test series’, everybody from our team needs to put their hand up and be counted for. I am just putting in my bit so that I can offer the best to the team,” the No.3 Test bowler added.

The best all-rounder in the world

An interesting question that popped ahead of him was to pick the best all-rounder in the world taking into account the performance of England’s Moeen Ali as well as Ben Stokes in the ongoing Test series against Windies at home. Ashwin had little hesitation in naming the pace bowling all-rounder as the best.

“I think asking a contemporary cricketer is not the right idea. I believe both of them are fantastic cricketers especially in an era where a fast bowling all-rounder is pretty rare Ben Stokes has definitely taken the world by storm,” the 30-year-old concluded.