NEW DELHI: Indian off-spinner and number on ranked Test bowler Ravichandran Ashwin has accepted that the controversial ‘doosra’ cannot be bowled with a straight arm.
Pakistan’s mystery spinner Saeed Ajmal had earlier stated the same, and alleged Ashwin for having an illegal bowling action.
Ashwin is basking in the glory of a stellar year in which he won back-to-back man-of-the-series awards after spinning India to Test series victories in Sri Lanka and at home against South Africa.
A slow bowler with a penchant for targeting the opposition’s best batsman, his ‘carrom’ ball has outfoxed the best players of spin, including talismanic South African AB de Villiers.
Ashwin wants to add more variety to his craft and sees nothing wrong in an off-spinner bowling an occasional leg-break.
“I always keep trying things,” the spinner told Times of India newspaper.
“I feel if a batsman can play a reverse sweep, I can also bowl leg-break.
“With that thought, I have been trying the leg-break and I think I have mastered it now. But I will be sure when I unleash one in a match situation and take the top of off-stump.
“The next one is probably the googly and the flipper, but I haven’t tried those,” said the spinner, whose early success in the 20-over format earned him a one-day call-up before he established himself as India’s main strike bowler in Tests.
Ashwin has wreaked havoc on South Asia’s spin-friendly tracks in the last six months, claiming 57 wickets in the eight Tests he played at an average of 14.38
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