Ravichandran Ashwin growing in stature: India bowling coach Bharat Arun

Nagpur: Lauding the efforts of off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, India’s bowling coach Bharat Arun on Saturday said the Tamil Nadu cricketer is growing in stature with each series.

Ashwin picked up figures of 12/98 against South Africa in the third Test here to gift his side a 124-run victory.

“There is no great change in his bowling. The only thing is that now he is more aware of his strengths and has understood the angles at which he needs to bowl to be most effective. He was always a good bowler but now he is growing in stature with each series because his awareness levels have improved tremendously,” Arun was quoted as saying by bcci.tv.

Arun said what has made Ashwin a better bowler now is that he uses his variations sparingly.

"He is one of the best off-spinners around. The challenge was for him to say, ‘I will trouble the best in the world with my off-spin’. The fact is that he is a lot more consistent in bowling his off-spin right now. That means his variations are a big surprise. Of course, he has got a lot of them up his sleeve, but he uses them very sparingly,” he said.

“This is the X factor in his bowling right now.”

Asked about what he and Ashwin discuss in the nets, Arun said: "My job is only to make him understand the different angles and we speak about it a lot. He has a lot of questions to ask and I try to clear the doubts that come up in his mind. Once the doubts are cleared, the bowler goes about expressing himself."

"We set the benchmark such that we try and go beyond what is expected. Even if something we talk about is not applicable in a match situation, there is some degree of benefit in it that would really help him out in a match."

Arun added that the lanky spinner has worked on his fitness for which he is now reaping rich rewards.

“It is a wrong concept that spinners mainly use their fingers and shoulders to bowl. You have to use your entire body. And bowling 25 overs in a day is very demanding on a spinner’s entire body,” he said.

“Ashwin has understood this and has worked a lot on his fitness. He is a lot fitter today than he was some time ago. That is helping him to use his body much better and has a lot to do with where he is today.”