Ashwin reveals secret of home success

India spinner Ravi Ashwin has given an insight into the tactical approach to bowling - which included analysing vision on this website - that helped him take an incredible 82 Test wickets last season.

In 13 home Tests Ashwin dominated, claiming 27 wickets in three Tests against New Zealand, 28 in five matches against England, six in the one-off Test against Bangladesh and 21 in the four-Test Border-Gavaskar series.

It has propelled him to 275 Test wickets in his 49-match career, and the world's No.2 ranked Test bowler in February became the fastest (in games played) to claim 250 Test wickets, and admitted the expectation had become difficult to deal with.

"To an extent 250 got to me a little bit ... It's never happened before," Ashwin told Times of India.

"I can't keep saying it doesn't matter to me and all that because there is this whole build up around it. When these things keep happening I say, 'It's a good chance to create history today'. And it starts catching up and it happened.

"I could have done it in Chennai and got to 250 wickets there. But I'm seriously not a man for trying to attain numbers."

Ashwin has claimed David Warner's wicket nine times, his most regular Test victim. But Warner's wickets have also come from 14 matches, the most Ashwin has bowled to a single batsman.

Kumar Sangakkara fell to Ashwin every innings of the only two Tests they faced each other, and Kane Williamson has been a victim five times in four Tests, and England opener Alastair Cook seven times in 11 Tests.

The quality of the scalps is testament to Ashwin, and it has not come about by accident.

Image Id: AB3D2B0E3B6244D0BCA53E7B8C43F662 Image Caption: Ashwin claimed Peter Handscomb three times in four Tests // BCCI

"Any series that I go into, I want to really attack their best batter. And I generally come out trumps because I plan for that in detail," he said.

"The difference is, I don't know what other people see in video analysis. Very few people see a pattern play in batsmen. How they make their runs? What their release shots are? If they find a particular set of bowlers very difficult, when do they attack those bowlers? And how do they defend. How they practised over the last month?

"So, I go on to Cricket Australia websites, Kiwi websites, try and see what they have done, how they practise, ask net bowlers how they've practised. So that gives me a fair idea."

For the Australians, Ashwin noticed some clear trends through careful observation of net sessions, with Warner his main target in mind.

"Their entire batting unit was very clear that they wouldn't get out LBW and play in front of their pad," Ashwin observed.

"Each time they came into a net, they batted without pads. They got the bowlers to bowl fast. They ran a couple of yards inside and bowled spin to them.

"So these were all indications that they were looking for fast, spinning deliveries and air speed in the ball.

"So at different stages I slowed it down. I changed the line, I wanted to bring him (Warner) out of his plans.

"If I bowled over the stumps, he had to use his pad because all his intent was not to get hit on the pads, which means he's taken the pad out of the equation, so I wanted him to use the pads."

Warner was dismissed three times by Ashwin in the first two Border-Gavaskar Tests. Leg before for 10 in Pune, bowled for 33 in the first innings in Bengaluru and lbw for 17 in the second.

And while Ashwin is sitting out the ongoing IPL, David Warner is back in action on Indian soil, captaining the Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise in their title defence.

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Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has backed Warner to rebound from the recent Test series in India, and said the familiar environment of the Sunrisers and the extra responsibility of captaining the side would help the opener rediscover the form that saw him average more than 50 in the tournament last year.

"On the back of a slightly disappointing Test series, he's back at a championship-winning team and he's captain," Ponting told cricket.com.au. "I think he loves that responsibility.

"And he's an opening batsman. You'd think the Player of the Tournament is going to be a spinner or an opening batsman.

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"That's the way the T20 game is right now, so I think Davey will be Player of the Tournament.

"You always like to go into any tournament with a lot of runs under your belt, but to me Davey is the sort of guy that it won't bother too much.

"He's back into a really comfortable environment ... and they've brought in a couple of really good inclusions player-wise as well.

"And I think the fact that it's T20 cricket, against the white ball and on very good pitches that you get in India, I'm sure he'll have another good tournament."