Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was seen bowling leg break in the nets. Ashwin is now playing Vijay Hazare trophy for the Tamilnadu team.
Ashwin who had a decent outing as a lower order batsman and a bowler in the recently concluded test series in South Africa came back home as he wasn”t a part of the ODI squad. He and Jaddu were displaced by Chahal and Kuldeep in the limited formats of the game. He will now be a part of Kings XI Punjab in this edition of IPL.
Ashwin who is known for his carrom ball and different variations in off-break bowling was seen trying to master the art of “leg break”.
Speaking to the media he said “This is part of my plan going into the IPL. I am just trying to build my armory. I used to bowl good leg breaks with my offspring action when I was playing league cricket in Chennai. Over a period of time, in a search to get my stock ball right, I obviously had to cut out a lot of those things. I had possessed a lot more variations. Having bowled of the break as the stock ball for almost 10 years, trying to change things around is challenging. But I don”t really settle for anything. At no point in my career, I thought “this is it” and decided to settle for the rest of my career.”
Ashwin was confident enough to bring these variations in his bowling as he ended up with the figures of 2/38 as TN registered their victory against Gujarat by 76 runs.
Ashwin also thanked L Balaji for his support. He said ” First time I was bowling leg spin, we were working on some actions on how to gain momentum. How I can make a repeatable action work for me. For example, my arm doesn”t go 45 degrees which are perfect for a legspinner. I am more upright. I have to adjust my action. It has been a painful ride. One day it will come out well in the nets, and the next day it won”t come out all right. It will be frustrating. I have gone through the entire journey and have reached a place where I can land the ball where I want to”
With wrist spin becoming a boon for limited overs cricket it will be interesting to see Ashwin”s approach in cementing his spot in the side.
Tamil Nadu will face Mumbai in the next match of Vijay Hazare trophy at SSN grounds, Chennai.