<p>After being passed over for the ICC World Test Championship final last month, Ravichandran Ashwin made a brilliant comeback with a match total of 12 wickets to feature in India’s innings victory against West Indies in Dominica.In the first game of the series, Ashwin claimed a five-wicket haul in each innings to give India the advantage.</p>
<p>After gaining a thorough understanding of the characteristics of a particular pitch, Ashwin talked up about his thinking and approach to bowling.<img decoding=”async” class=”alignnone wp-image-80511″ src=”https://www.theindiaprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/www.theindiaprint.com-when-im-bowling-i-always-think-like-a-batter-r-ashwin-on-how-he-plans-his-dismissals-download-2023-07-16t173043.845.jpg” alt=”” width=”1247″ height=”692″ srcset=”https://www.theindiaprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/www.theindiaprint.com-when-im-bowling-i-always-think-like-a-batter-r-ashwin-on-how-he-plans-his-dismissals-download-2023-07-16t173043.845.jpg 301w, https://www.theindiaprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/www.theindiaprint.com-when-im-bowling-i-always-think-like-a-batter-r-ashwin-on-how-he-plans-his-dismissals-download-2023-07-16t173043.845-150×83.jpg 150w” sizes=”(max-width: 1247px) 100vw, 1247px” /></p>
<p>After the first Test was over in three days, Ashwin commented, “When I’m bowling, I’m constantly thinking like a batter.” “After a few overs, I’ve found a wonderful groove. In order to determine if my round-arm ball spins, up-and-over spins, or spins with a flatter trajectory, I am searching for various angles. I attempt to judge the pitch, the appropriate tempo to be bowling at, and then I look at the hitter.</p>
<p>Where is the head going, where is he looking to score those runs, is he falling over, is his front leg coming over? That is the next step for me. Those are the items I am focusing on. I felt like Kraigg Brathwaite was losing his mind when the round-arm action was coming in when I was bowling at him today – it was something I was working on in the first innings as well,” he said.</p>
<p>Ashwin is now tied with the great Anil Kumble for the most Test wickets taken by an Indian with 486 in 93 matches at a strike rate of 23.61, including 34 five-wicket hauls and eight 10-wicket hauls.</p>
<p>I’ve participated in a lot of Test matches, right? It’s always important to get the first one or two outs in these deliveries, according to Ashwin. “One caught the outside edge, one caught the inside edge, and then all of a sudden the team came in, and they were wondering, ‘Okay, here I am; can I defend, can I go forward, should I go back?’”</p>
<p>Jermaine Blackwood was a perfect illustration of how, when Kraigg Brathwaite stole it to slip, he was (concerned about) the outside edge and wanted to guard it. You can tell what a hitter intends to do the instant he enters the batter’s box. When a batsman enters the field, it is often apparent quite soon whether he intends to drive or sit back. Therefore, you have a higher chance of targeting the hitter up front when you make that early assessment of the circumstance or the batter,” he said.</p>
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