Ashwin seeks sharp turn in perception for white-ball success

NEW DELHI: India’s Ravichandran Ashwin believes finger-spinners are battling a perception of ineffectiveness in limited-overs cricket but remains confident that he and his ilk can flourish with the white ball.

Once considered a luxury for a penchant to bleed runs in order to claim wickets, wrist-spinners have taken limited-overs cricket by storm, excelling in the dual enforcer-defender role and banishing their finger-spin cousins to the fringes.

Their stock has risen so high that a wrist-spinning trio — Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan, New Zealand’s Ish Sodhi and West Indian Samuel Badree — occupy the top three places in the current Twenty20 bowlers rankings.

Ashwin has been one of those at the receiving end of the wrist-spin revolution, which is also reflected in the One-day International (ODI) rankings with three of them turning their way into the world’s top six.

The 31-year-old and regular Test partner Ravindra Jadeja are currently surplus to India’s limited-overs requirements with leggie Yuzvendra Chahal and left-arm unorthodox spinner Kuldeep Yadav occupying the position of the new spin darlings.

“The future of finger-spinners lies in the perception of people,” Ashwin told Reuters in an interview.“More so because it’s based on perception about what people think of what’s relevant and what’s not. Things will turn around.

“At one point of time, leg-spinners didn’t have a place (in limited-overs cricket), now they do. Finger-spinners, maybe you all think don’t have a role, will come back too.“For that to happen, all they needed was similar encouragement,” said the Chennai off-spinner, who is currently the fourth-ranked Test bowler.

“People have been allowing 64 runs for two wickets in 10 overs of leg-spin too. If you give the same courage to the finger-spinners, they’ll do the same thing.“It’s all about perception. I think handling bowlers is all about how you handle them and you how perceive them.”

A cerebral spinner whose bag of tricks contains a lethal carrom ball, Ashwin sprang a surprise in the domestic Vijay Hazare Trophy last month when he bowled leg-spin with an action similar to that of his idol Anil Kumble.