"He knows what to bowl against whom" - RP Singh applauds quality of Ravichandran Ashwin

Former India left-arm seamer RP Singh applauded the quality of veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin who is just a wicket away from entering the exclusive 500 Test wicket club, for his game awareness of knowing exactly what to bowl against which batter, and his willingness to add more elements on his off-spinning craft.

RP Singh while speaking to Cricbuzz on their “Chatter” show on X (formerly Twitter), stated that Ravichandran Ashwin always wants to remain one step ahead of batters around the world which helps in improving his skills further. Singh went on to say the amount of experience that Ashwin has gained since making his debut in 2010, a year before he made his first Test appearance against West Indies at New Delhi in November 2011.

Singh made these comments after Ashwin picked up back-to-back wickets of Ollie Pope and Joe Root during the 1st session of day 4 in which England are currently finding it very hard to chase down a total of 399 here in Vishakhapatnam’s ACA-VDCA stadium.

“There’s a lot of experimentation in his bowling. Whether you see round the wicket bowling or traditional bowling. He is an off-spinner who capable of bowling from both ends and tries to get wickets. He has also picked wickets by going round the stumps and bowl outside off stump deliveries to get wickets in slips,” RP Singh told cricbuzz.

Somewhere his desire to stay one step ahead of batters has helped him get technically better and he always tries something new and things take time to materialize. But since he has a lot of maturity and has gained a lot of experience in Test cricket, he knows what to bowl against different batters in different conditions.” – RP Singh added.

Ravichandran Ashwin had failed to register a single scalp during England’s 1st innings with the bat on day 2 after the Indian batting order led by Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 204-run knock, posted a mammoth 436 runs in the 1st innings. Ashwin did collect 3 wickets across each innings during India’s dramatic 28-run loss at Hyderabad, in what was labeled as the Three Lions’ most memorable Test match win on foreign soil.

Brendon McCullum’s men were not given any chances whatsoever to cinch a victory in the 1st Test but they rose from the dead before staging a very decisive comeback in the 3rd and 4th innings. The format which is anyways known to test the mettle of players and give more than one chance players to get revenge, had well and truly given England everything to try and comeback.

In the 2nd Test, however, England now have very narrow chances of staging a comeback as they are already 7 down with only one recognized batter on the pitch.

“Ravichandran Ashwin Bowls With A Fresher Mindset And Skillset”, RP Singh Opines

RP Singh went on to further state that Ravichandran Ashwin has reinvented himself and bowls with a new and fresher thought.

“Ravichandran Ashwin has taken a step forward to improve as he is bowling in a new, with improved skillset and with a new thought as well. He has made a huge impact for Indian cricket. He is unlike other Indian spinners who succeed only in sub-continent conditions.”

“He is a little unique because his bounce is different, his action is a traditional one. His style of bowling is very classy and that is why his success rate is so high in foreign conditions as well” – RP Singh concluded.