Ravichandran Ashwin explained his thought process after an excellent performance against West Indies, saying that he constantly thinks like a batsman when planning his deliveries.Ashwin finished the first Test match against West Indies at the Windsor Park stadium in Dominica with 12 wickets, becoming the first Indian bowler to clinch a five-wicket haul in both innings of a Test match in Windies.Most wickets for India in Tests since 2012:2012 – Ashwin.2013 – Ashwin.2014 – Ishant.2015 – Ashwin.2016 – Ashwin.2017 – Ashwin.2018 – Bumrah.2019 – Shami.2020 – Bumrah.2021 – Ashwin.2022 – Bumrah.2023 – Ashwin.Ashwin – The GOAT. pic.twitter.com/JfFzUM4cgX— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) July 15, 2023Ashwin ended the first Test against West Indies with the figure of 12/131, which is his best number away from home. This has been a stunning comeback from the off-spinner, who had been dropped from the national team for the ICC World Test Championship final last month.Want to bowl like Ashwin Think like a batter, he saysDuring a conversation with commentators Ian Bishop and Samuel Badree, Ashwin opened up about the thought process that goes on behind his deliveries. His policy is very simple – constantly think like a batsman.“Im thinking constantly like a batter when Im bowling. [During] the first few overs, Im settling into a nice rhythm. Im looking for different angles, trying to see whether my round-arm ball spins, or the up-and-over spins, or the flatter trajectory spins. I try and gauge the pitch, I try and gauge the right pace to be bowling with, and then Im looking at the batter,” Ashwin said after the end of the first Test match.Ashwin demonstrated his thinking during the dismissal of West Indies captain Kraigg Braithwaite on Day 3.“Thats the next phase for me – where is the head moving, where is he looking to score those runs, is he falling over, is his front leg coming over – those are the things Im looking at. Today, when I was bowling at Kraigg Brathwaite – it was something I was working on in the first innings as well – I felt like when the round-arm action was coming in, he was losing his head,” Ashwin said.A good catch by Rahane at the slip, as Braithwaite falls prey to the bowling of Ashwin 🔥🏏📸:- Jio Cinema.#WIvIND #Windsor #Insidesport #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/qmkmbPjlRf— InsideSport (@InsideSportIND) July 14, 2023The losing his head was a reference to Braithwaites head falling a long way to the off side of the deliveries. When the delivery which caused his dismissal landed on the middle-stumps line, it landed the Windies skipped in an awkward position as his bat could not come down straight to meet the ball.“The moment a batter walks in, you know what he wants to do, and Jermaine Blackwood was a clear example of how [after] Kraigg Brathwaite nicked it off to slip, he was [worried about] the outside edge, wanting to protect it. Its pretty much [about gauging] very quickly when a batsman walks in – whether he wants to drive, whether he wants to sit back – so when you make that early gauging of a situation or a batter, youve got a better chance of attacking him up front,” Ashwin concluded.Ashwin will look to carry on his strong form in the second Test match against West Indies which will start on July 20.
