Sri Lanka vs India: R Ashwin believes he bowled one of the best spells in his career

Ashwin and teammates appealing for a wicket

Indian in-form bowler Ravichandran Ashwin accepted that his P Sara stadium bowling spell against Sri Lanka was one of the best spells he has ever bowled, reports cricket365. The off-spinner helped India win the second Test match against Sri Lanka in Colombo to level the three-match series by 1-1.

The 28-year-old also broke Harbhajan Singh's record of taking the most number of wickets in a series in Sri Lanka. He has 17 wickets now with one more match to go, Harbhajan took 16 wickets in the year 2000.

"I am not looking at just the numbers. The way I bowled this morning has got to be one of the best spells I have ever bowled," Ashwin said. "Back in 2011-12, when I was playing in Adelaide, I read a piece from Sanjay Manjrekar that I was not stable at the crease when releasing the ball. I had bowled 50 overs so I was a bit tired, but there was merit to that piece. I am now more stable when releasing the ball.

"The wickets here are really slow, you have to really put in a lot to get purchase. Yesterday with the new ball I was slow because I wanted the new ball to bounce, but this morning with the older ball I had to put in a lot of overspin to get bounce out of the pitch."

Ashwin was disappointed after losing the first Test in Galle where he took 10 wickets in the match.

"After Galle I was heartbroken. We just sat together and told everybody what all of us felt because we were all feeling bad," he said. "Just to get it out of the system, with only three days in between, was a good thing. To bounce back like this is superb."

He is proving his worth in every match not only with the ball but also with the bat. After climbing one spot the latest ICC Test bowlers rankings and claiming the eighth position, he gained ground on Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan in the ICC player rankings for Test all-rounders and has reduced the deficit on the leader to 43 points.