Team India’s wrist spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal have been improving each passing game as they helped their skipper Virat Kohli to reach the top of the tables in limited-overs cricket in the last year. They are making sure that the men in blue don’t miss the services of veteran spinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. 

This has in fact inspired Test specialist Ashwin to work on bowling leg-spin. The Kings XI Punjab spinner will put this practice to test during the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

During the he sidelines of Tamil Nadu’s Vijay Hazare Trophy game against Gujarat, Ashwin said, “This is part of my plan going into the IPL. I am just trying to build my armory. I used to bowl good leg breaks with my offspin action when I was playing league cricket in Chennai. Over a period of time, in a search to get my stock ball right, I obviously had to cut out a lot of those things. I had possessed a lot more variations. But I don’t really settle for anything. At no point in my career, I thought ‘this is it’ and decided to settle for the rest of my career.”

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Taking about his new variation further, the Tamil Nadu lad said, “As of now, everything is cooked by me. I try to take feedback from our coaches in my academy. L Balaji has been of great help. First time I was bowling legspin, we were working on some actions on how to gain momentum. How I can make a repeatable action work for me.”

He further elaborated, “For example, my arm doesn’t go 45 degrees which are perfect for a leg-spinner. I am more upright. I have to adjust my action. It has been a painful ride. One day it will come out well in the nets, and the next day it won’t come out all right. It will be frustrating. I have gone through the entire journey and have reached a place where I can land the ball where I want to.”

Despite the fact that Ashwin and Jadeja have been displaced from the limited overs squad due to Chahal and Kuldeep’s consistent performance, still the lanky spinner didn’t shy away from praising the two wrist spinners on Monday.