You can get a lot of advantage with full-sleeves and tweaked actions - Ravichandran Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin of India pictured after winning the ‘Man of the Match’ award during the ICC World Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014 match between Bangladesh and India at Sher-e-Bangla Mirpur Stadium on March 28, 2014 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Ravichandran Ashwin, no stranger to trying new variations, has shed some light into why he has been noticed bowling with Sunil Narine-like action in the recent past. Not one to mince words, the Indian off-spinner also admitted that bowling with full sleeves can have advantages attached with it.

Speaking ahead of their last Group 2 match, against Australia, Ashwin said: “I wanted to do something different (on his Narine-like action). Unless you try, you won’t find out what can work or not. I had never bowled in full-sleeves before. So I wanted to see how it would feel. That’s point number one.”

The 27-year-old raised a few eyebrows when he said “you can do a little bit with your elbow” when a bowler bowls with full sleeves on: “And I just wanted to see if you can get more revs (revolution) on the ball if you can do a little bit with your elbow, as much as that is. You can get a lot of advantage with these things — so why should I lag behind if someone else is getting a competitive edge.”

When asked if the team, which has chased on all the three occasions after winning the toss, would consider batting first for a change, he said: “I would not want to swim a tsunami! I would not want to challenge conditions. If we win the toss, we’ll again bowl first if that is what is required. You will be fighting against a wall if you are fighting against conditions.”

The spin duo of Ashwin and Amit Mishra have been in terrific form in the World Cup, sharing all the three Man-of-the-Match awards between them, which has helped the Indian team, unbeaten in the tournament and qualified to the semi-finals, to a large extent. MS Dhoni will be hoping that they continue to wreak havoc with the ball as India proceed to the final stages of the tournament.