In his book, Ashwin revealed the story behind learning this lethal carrom ball which has given him ample success in recent years.
Ravichandran Ashwin bowled a beautiful carrom delivery to dismiss Glenn Phillips on the second day of the Wankhede Test. The ball turned 5.9° and drifted into the batter before moving away to square up the batter and hit the off-stump in a flash.
In his book, Ashwin revealed the story behind learning this lethal carrom ball which has given him ample success in recent years. He noted he came up against a boy in gully cricket named SK, who could turn the ball in weird directions without chucking, impressing Ashwin.
He learnt the trick from SK, who asked him to flick the ball from the middle finger while releasing. Ashwin mastered it quickly with a tennis ball because it is soft, making flicking easier.
However, that wasn’t possible with a leather ball since it is hard and rough. At that time, a competition named the Young Stars Cricket Association tournament was held concurrently with a spin camp which Ashwin was part of. The Sri Lankan team was playing in that tournament, and Ashwin noticed a bowler was bowling the same carrom delivery with a leather ball, something he couldn’t master due to its hardness.
His coach at the time, VV Kumar, asked him to focus more on his stock delivery rather than variations. However, after a few years, India played against Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final, and Ashwin recognised the same bowler he saw in the camp, Ajantha Mendis.
Mendis had mastered his carrom delivery and troubled Indian batters in the game while replicating early success in his early Test career. Ashwin decided to work hard on his carrom ball and perfect it anyhow.
“I feel restless that it has taken me so long to start working on this delivery when I have been bowling it for years with the tennis ball. I now know I have to work even harder to master it with the cricket ball because I know the impact it can have.” wrote Ashwin.
Ashwin slowly mastered it and currently has one of the most lethal carrom balls in world cricket. He also claimed that Rangana Herath perfected this delivery before Ajantha Mendis and dismissed him in the MJ Gopalan Trophy 2007.
Ashwin might not have had the greatest of series against New Zealand, but he weaved his magic in Mumbai to bring India back into the game. Later, he dismissed Will Young with another carrom ball, showing how well he mastered and knew when to use it.
For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram, and YouTube.
