‘Ashwin Looks a Very Different Bowler Now’ – Zaheer Khan

One Indian bowler who has impressed one and all and particularly surprised both his fans and critiques out there with his amazing performance in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia is Ravichandran Ashwin.

The right-arm off spinner has been consistently able to provide breakthroughs to the Indian team and got the better of world class players like Steve Smith in both the first and the second test match. In fact, this is a greatly utilized opportunity by Ash to silence the ones that thought of him as a weaker bowler on foreign pitches.

Legendary fast bowler Zaheer Khan too was impressed by R Ashwin’s new form and even said that he looked like a completely different bowler altogether.

Ravichandran Ashwin has so far claimed nine wickets in three innings in Australia and at an economical rate. More importantly, the 34-year old has managed to trap Australia’s premier batsman, Steve Smith and dismissed him cheaply. Ashwin has often copped criticism for proving his effectiveness in India, where decks are more spin-friendly and becoming a liability outside the sub-continent.

“He has found a way now. We used to see Ashwin trying to use a lot of variations when he used to play Test matches on overseas pitches. Now he has reduced the usage of those variations and has kept his patience. So, he has found a way that where is not too much help in the wicket how he can plan to take wickets. And which fielders he can get into the catching positions. There is a clarity of thought process,” Zaheer said to Sony Sports.

The former left-arm pacer recognized that the clarity of thought is the reason he causes plenty of trouble to the batsmen. According to Zaheer, Ashwin knows the discussions happening on his lack of impact of overseas conditions and the off-spinner wants to change it.

“That is the reason he is causing trouble for the batsmen, and your confidence also increases when you take wickets. He is a very experienced player, and somehere or the other, he also knows the talk that happens about his overseas record, he is very keen to change that,” he concluded.