Have learnt under-cutter, reverse under-cutter from Mujeeb: Ravichandran Ashwin

Ace Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin could not really give the finishing touch he would like to have in the recent Test series against England. He had started on a good note, picking seven wickets in the opening Test in Birmingham, castling opener Alastair Cook twice in the match. But the 31-year-old could not maintain the momentum in the subsequent matches and even sat out for the last after sustaining a hip injury.

The bowler is back into the squad for the two-Test series against the Windies starting October 4. Recently, the 32-year-old Ashwin reflected on his journey over the last 15 months. The bowler has taken 52 wickets in 13 Tests during this time at an average of 27.55 with just one wicket haul, which might not be too satisfying for the man but given the tough race that Ashwin has found himself in he would still consider himself a decent performer who is a regular in Tests.

Ashwin spoke with News18 two days prior to the Test series where he emphasised on various aspects of his career. He spoke on his captaincy for Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) who picked him as the leader in the 2018 edition of the Indian Premier League. Though the side had shown a lot of promise in the beginning, they eventually fell short of the playoffs. Ashwin had two things to speak on when it came to KXIP and they are: captaincy and bowling.

How Ashwin saw IPL captaincy?

On captaincy in the IPL, he said it was all about leadership – expressing himself and trying to take guard of his team. “Trying to be a responsible leader, try and make sure that you are giving your players the best possible environment on and off the field, to go out there and perform,” Ashwin said.

The next part is about the bowling. When he was asked the things he gleaned from his teenaged Afghanistan team-mate Mujeeb-ur-Rahman in the KXIP side, Ashwin said: “Most of the balls that he bowls – the carrom ball is something that I bowl. But I have developed the slider in the white-ball format. Obviously, I have not played a lot of white-ball cricket but people who have followed my TNPL, they know I have started bowling the leg-break, I have started bowling the slow carrom ball.”

Ashwin did not forget to acknowledge the bowling art that he has also learned from Mujeeb. He said he learned the under-cutter and reverse under-cutter from the 17-year-old bowler, adding that the reverse under-cutter is an effective weapon in Twenty20 cricket.

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