Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has always had the tendency to experiment with new things. In addition to bringing new variations to his bowling, he adopted many other ways to trick the batsmen from time to time. He would sometimes pause in his delivery stride in an attempt to hoodwink the batters. In the first Test of the recently-concluded series against South Africa, he ran from between the umpires and the wickets to a right-handed Dane Piedt, who had put on a decent partnership with Senuran Muthusamy for the ninth wicket.
Recently, a video of Ashwin batting left-handed went viral, so it was only a matter of time when the spinner tried left-arm bowling.
Ahead of the second Test -- which will be India's first-ever Day/Night Test, Ashwin practised bowling with his left arm. Team India trained under lights with the pink balls at Indore, which was the venue for the first Test of the two-match series.
The bowler bowled left-arm orthodox and managed to get a significant amount of turn during the practice session.
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Interestingly, his bowling action as a left-arm bowler is hugely similar to that of Sanath Jayasuriya, the former Sri Lankan all-rounder. It is difficult, however, to confirm if Ashwin actually emulated the Sri Lankan great on purpose.
The spinner took five wickets in the first Test against Bangladesh, including three in the second innings. Ahead of the pink-ball Test, Ashwin admitted that it would be a challenge for the spinners.
"Obviously, it’s a challenge to play with the pink ball. The ball has a lot more lacquer. I haven’t even bowled a single ball with the pink ball. Obviously I just saw it. Sometimes I don’t understand if its orange or pink, still coming to terms with that," Ashwin had said at the end of the first day of the first Test.
