Bowling and batting are very separate sports in the same game: R Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin set the Chepauk Stadium ablaze with his fiery ton against Bangladesh in the first Test. The star India spinner, complemented by Ravindra Jadeja, stitched a 199-run partnership for the seventh wicket as India crawled back spectacularly after an early setback. Shedding light on his 113-run knock, Ashwin said that the transformation has taken its “own due”. 

The veteran is the second-highest wicket-taker for India in Tests after Anil Kumble. However, though he had a knack for timing the ball the usual grind batters carry was not expected from him. Over the years he has chiseled himself to fit into the bowling all-rounder mould. He admitted that while bowling is a conscious approach, batting demands a behind-the-brain ability to flourish.  

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"Bowling and batting are very separate sports in the same game. One is done consciously. The other one is done subconsciously. So, for me, to compartmentalise both has taken its own due. At this stage, I am able to sequence that and split both of them and see as a cricketer. So, when I walked there [to bat] the only thing I wanted to do was to settle down my game,” Ashwin was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

“The mind can play tricks because I am a bowler who plays on 12, 18, 24 balls ahead when I am sequencing it. As a batter, I shouldn't do that. I just use my experience when I get in. So, now it's more about just focusing on the ball and hitting it as I see it,” he added.

I used to find happiness in answering my critics: R Ashwin

The 38-year-old always possessed the ability to think like a proper batter. His leave off Mohammad Nawaz in a nerve-wracking final over of T20 World Cup 2022 game is a testament to his shrewdness. 

It was not all even-stevens for the Chennai-born cricketer; he was once termed less impactful with the ball and not so promising with the bat. But the ace spinner revealed his newly-found mantra to seek freedom amidst criticism while not paying heed to the outside noise. 

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“I used to find happiness in answering my critics with my performance, or in the press conference. But that's not the case now. The most important thing for me these days is to enjoy my game, by staying in the moment, by playing my cricket with a smile on my face,” Ashwin added.