Ashwin clarifies bowling leg-spin to Steve Smith during IPL was not a ploy
Ravichandran Ashwin has made it clear that bowling leg-spin to Steve Smith during the IPL was not a ploy to hide his bowling style and rather was to develop his own bowling skills. He has also said that unsettling David Warner from early in the innings is the best option to get him out early.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) has helped cricketers from different parts of the world understand each other’s techniques well. But off-spinner Ashwin bowled leg-spin, instead of his stock delivery offspinners, to Steve Smith in the Rising Pune Supergiants nets last year.Â
On being asked if it was an attempt to not reveal too was of his bowling style, Ashwin said to the New Indian Express, “Not really. That was not the intent. But I’m definitely more phased out in the way I practice during the IPL. Bowling leg spin had to do with skill development rather than anything else.”
“How much ever you study or practice against someone, it boils down to the fact that you have to come out to the middle and replicate everything. That’s the challenge for an international cricketer. I don’t want to read much into it. It is all about how quickly I get into a phase where I start dictating terms,” he added.Â
Speaking about his plans to contain an attacking David Warner, Ashwin said, “It’s simple. As a spinner, you can’t come out all guns blazing like a fast bowler would. You have to build your spells. You can’t straight away think much about how to dismiss someone.
“Obviously, there will be a dismissal pattern, since certain batsmen get out in the same fashion. That is something I can definitely target. Warner is a fine player. If you don’t get him early, he will hurt you. I’ll be very very pro-active about it, and try to unsettle him as early as possible.”
In the match against Bangladesh, Ashwin had become the fastest bowler to reach 250 wickets in Test cricket’s history taking only 45 Tests to reach the landmark. In the process, Ashwin broke the record of Australian pace legend Dennis Lillee, who had achieved it in 48 Tests.
Asked how it feels to break the record of a legend, the Tamil Nadu all-rounder said, “Quite a few people have been building it up. It has been spoken about a lot; in the commentary box and all that. I’m not a player who wants to go out and break a record every time. For me, it’s a question of how I can try to become better. I want to get that record out of my head."