I was bowling reverse carrom ball: Ravichandran Ashwin reveals why batsmen didn't pick him in IPL 2019

Ravichandran Ashwin, the senior Indian spinner is rated as one of the best current off-spinner in India, who is a regular face in the Test squad of Team India. But, it has been long that he has managed to grab his spot in the limited-overs format due to a sudden dip in his form with the ball.

However, the 33-year-old still feels that he is a brilliant T20 bowler, who talked about a new variation that he has developed in his bowling. The off-spinner played his last limited-overs format game for Team India back in 2017.

But, he is consistently playing in the cash-rich league. So, far he has played for different franchises in IPL with the likes of CSK, KXIP and RPS. In this season, he was all set to play for Delhi Capitals but the T20 tournament got postponed for an indefinite period due to COVID-19 outbreak.

Ravichandran Ashwin was the skipper of Kings XI Punjab

In a recent interaction with Sanjay Manjrekar, Ashwin said that he is still a good T20 bowler and if he manages to control his body then there is still a lot of red-ball cricket left in him. He also recalled that in IPL 2019, the batsmen were finding it quite difficult to pick his deliveries. As per him, the batsmen used to think that he was bowling carrom ball but that was not the case.

The finger spinner recited that he was bowling reverse carrom ball. Ashwin also clarified that sometimes he used to get spin and sometimes ball used to skid that made it difficult for the batsmen to smack him for boundaries and sixes.

“I am good at T20 cricket. If my body holds up, I see a purple patch coming up for me in Test cricket. I am really surprised that in the last IPL people could not pick up what I was bowling,” Ashwin told Sanjay Manjarekar in ESPNcricinfo’s latest videocast.

They thought I was bowling the carrom ball but actually I was bowling reverse carrom because when I would bowl that I would get a lot out of the pitch. Sometimes it can spin, sometimes I could get it to skid,” he added.

In the previous session, Ravichandran Ashwin played for Kings XI Punjab and he was also the skipper of the team. He grabbed 15 wickets in his 14 appearances. But, ahead of IPL 2020 auction, the Punjab based franchise traded him to Delhi Capitals.