It came as a surprise to many when off-spinner R Ashwin started bowling with a different action on Day Two of the second Test match against Australia. This action is of a classical off-break bowler. His first spell had the right loop and spin. Being a tall spinner, he managed to use the bounce of the Gabba pitch to his advantage. Although Ashwin didn’t get as many wickets, he showed a lot of promise.
Why did Ashwin bowl with a different action? According to his childhood coach Sunil Subramanian, Ashwin has gone back to his initial days in cricket. “In the middle, he had tweaked his action to suit T20 and ODI cricket. But now he has gone back to his formative years and has been delivering the ball the way he used to do during his early days,” Subramanian says.
In fact, this bowling action has given Ashwin the prominence in Indian domestic cricket. It has also helped him hog limelight into the international arena. So much so that he could replace Harbhajan Singh to become a regular member of the Indian team.
“I have been keeping an eye on his bowling since long. I also watch his videos. I am happy that he is able to bowl well and hopefully will do even better in future,” the coach adds.
Subramanian says Ashwin has taken tips from Sri Lankan bowling legend Muttiah Muralitharan during India’s tour in England earlier this year. “He discussed finer points of his bowling with Murali. And he has come to original bowling action,” he says. The team management too supported this initiative.
If Test bowling is all about holding one to a particular line and length, the ODIs and T20s are about variations. But if you are giving the ball flight too much, you can get hit by the batsman. This was happened on Thursday when Ashwin got blows by Australian captain Steve Smith.
