Ashwin or Kumble? Irani Trophy Day 1 confuses everyone

Test specialist Ravichandran Ashwin who has been bamboozling the best batsmen with his off spinners for over a decade, displayed the latest addition in his armoury ‘The Leg Spin’ on Wednesday.

New Delhi: Test specialist Ravichandran Ashwin who has been bamboozling the best batsmen with his off spinners for over a decade, displayed the latest addition in his armoury ‘The Leg Spin’ on Wednesday.

On the opening day of the Irani Cup, Ashwin was seen bowling the leg-spinners against Vidarbha in Nagpur. Though the 31-year-old bowled his normal off-spinners too along with the other variations but the leg-spinners from the veteran stole the limelight.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) posted a video of Ashwin bowling his new variation.

SPECIAL: Introducing @ashwinravi99, the leg spinner!
We have seen him bamboozle the best batsmen with his off breaks, but the ace spinner has added another dimension to his bowling and that is leg spin. Here’s the latest from R Ashwin’s bag of tricks https://t.co/8M9XvWgZZ3 pic.twitter.com/mctkWQCUTB

— BCCI (@BCCI) March 14, 2018

The commentators too were quick in comparing him with Anil Kumble as the bowling action resembled quite a bit to the spin legend.

Ashwin was earlier seen experimenting with delivery during a Vijay Hazare trophy encounter against Gujarat back in February. When asked, Ashwin told reporters that he has been working on the delivery and is looking forward to use it in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier Laegue

"This is part of my plan going into the IPL. I am just trying to build my armoury. I used to bowl good legbreaks with my offspin action when I was playing league cricket in Chennai. Over a period of time, in a search to get my stock ball right, I obviously had to cut out a lot of those things. I had possessed a lot more variations. Having bowled off-break as the stock ball for almost 10 years, trying to change things around is challenging. But I don't really settle for anything. At no point in my career, I thought 'this is it' and decided to settle for the rest of my career." Ashiwn said back in February.

Ashwin will lead Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The team will begin their campaign against Delhi Daredevils on April 8 at the Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi.