Ravichandran Ashwin is arguably the best off-spinner in the world at present. His dominance over his craft has made him one of the go-to bowler for Virat Kohli, especially in the Tests. Meanwhile, over the years, Ashwin has developed a lot of variations including the famous carrom ball to his armoury to be effective across the formats. Recently, in a candid chat, the veteran cricketer has revealed from where he learned the carrom ball.
The owner of 564 international wickets, Ashwin is one of the main reasons behind India’s dominance in red-ball cricket. They are currently ranked one in ICC Test Rankings for teams and also sits on the top spot in the points table of the ICC World Test Championship with seven wins from as many games. Ravichandran Ashwin’s partnership with Ravindra Jadeja with the ball has benefitted India over the years.
Ravichandran Ashwin reveals who taught him carrom ball
The cricketer from Tamil Nadu has finally revealed who taught him the carrom which earned him many wickets. Ashwin played a lot of tennis ball cricket as a batsman growing and there was one of this bowler who troubled him a lot. The veteran cricketer stated that he picked up the variation from the guy; however, he has no connection with that guy anymore.
“The first time I went to play a tennis ball game, I was batting. There was this guy who was bowling with a proper action, getting beautiful drift and getting the ball to go nicely out and in. Till today I can’t find where the guy is but I haven’t seen a better bowler who can bowl both in and out than him in my life. His name is SK. He was the one from whom I learnt that ball,” Ashwin told Cricbuzz.
Furthermore, Ravichandran Ashwin added that he continued to practice that delivery on a daily basis to master it. The veteran off-spinner has been a key component in the Test line-up and will hope to keep up the good job in the coming days.
“Basically he was the one who made me look like an absolute idiot on that particular day. I was a big thing around the tennis ball circuit as a batsman then, so I said I need to learn from this guy. So I used to go every morning, and he used to come and teach me for about 10-15 days,” Ashwin concluded.
