Learnt carrom ball from a guy while playing tennis-ball cricket, reveals Ravichandran Ashwin

Among the many variations that Ashwin brought to the fore with his off-spin bowling across formats, one of the most effective ones is the carrom ball — or the soddakuball, as it later came to be known. 

It was Ajantha Mendis of Sri Lanka who introduced this delivery during his debut in 2008, earning him the tag of being a 'mystery spinner' for quite some time. Ashwin, however, added this ball to his artillery, but it seems that the inspiration and urge to do it came from days playing on the streets of Chennai.

"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. 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 told Cricbuzz during an episode of Spicy Pitch.

“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 added.