Ravichandran Ashwin believes County stint helped him to refurbish his skills

Ravichandran Ashwin is currently one of India’s gun bowlers in Test cricket, especially in the sub-continent. However, his performances in overseas conditions aren’t something to boast off. In a bid to polish his skills, the Tamil Nadu-born tweaker plied his trade for Worcestershire in the 2017 County Championship.

During his stint, he was impressive with both bat and ball. In four matches, the off-break bowler picked up 20 wickets with best bowling figures of 5/68. Moreover, he scored 214 runs at an average of 42.80. The 31-year-old is currently playing for India in their first Test against England at Edgbaston in Birmingham.

The tweaker was India’s most impressive bowler in the first innings with figures of 26-7-62-4. He picked up the wickets of Alastair Cook, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Stuart Broad, en route the stupendous numbers. Recently, Ashwin mentioned that last year’s county stint has helped him to a significant extent.

I was working on simplifying my actions

“When I came here for county stint last year, the first thing I realised is the speed with which the bowlers bowl here. The conditions here are extremely slow even on the first day. You can have bit of bounce but if the pace is not right then the batsman get a lot of time to play the same ball in the front and back foot, that is something I realised very quickly when I came here,” Ashwin told BCCI.tv.

“Even in the last 12-18 months, I spend a lot of time playing club cricket. I was working on simplifying my actions a bit and make sure I can get more body into the ball, try to create something in the air and it worked really well,” the off-break bowler added.

Ashwin was in the Test squad when India, captained by MS Dhoni, toured England for a five-match series in England. He played a couple of contests at Manchester and The Oval, but could only muster three wickets. His recent spell against the Three Lions is expected to be a massive morale booster for Ashwin.

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