Ashwin reveals secret of his success in ODIs

Ravichandran Ashwin's showing in the shorter versions of cricket have been comparatively better than that in Tests. The Tamil Nadu spinner attributes it to the time spent in the nets with his personal coach.

"I have put considerable amount of work into it, a good 55-60 days of work back at home with my coach. I have been trying to sort out my action and extract as much as possible from the wicket. Thankfully, the results are coming," Ashwin told reporters on the eve of the fourth One-Day International against England, in Birmingham, on Monday.

The 'four-fielder outside the 30-yard circle' rule is something that’s troubled Indian spinners and Ashwin is working around the restrictions, chalking out his own plan.

"The fifth fielder (earlier rule) actually determined the length of a spinner. Now, as per new rules, depending on which fielder, you have up (inside the circle), you have to bowl fuller, pull up your length, have to play in between that and try taking risks in between that," he said.

Having been adjudged the man-of-the-match in the previous game, Ashwin was all praise for the fielding unit, which is bolstered by the presence of Suresh Raina.

"We had six or seven new players coming in for the ODIs and that has obviously helped lift the team.

"This sort of thing happens (referring to dropped catches during the Tests), when you have had a bad series, which was how the Tests ended for us. Now you have fresh legs coming in. It brings a bit of fresh attitude into the squad.

"It is good and refreshing. The other day at Cardiff, Mohammad Shami took a good catch in the deep and he made it look easy,” he added.

Ashwin especially was ecstatic about Raina's reflex catch in the slips during the other game.

"That catch from Suresh Raina (at Nottingham) was amazing. The moment he caught it, I forgot that I had got a wicket and went berserk seeing the way he had taken that catch. It really motivates the whole team and other slip fielders, me being one of them as well."

The Indian team has a lot of happy memories at Edgbaston and Ashwin feels that if it can clinch the series on Tuesday, it will be a nice way to celebrate the team's elevation to the top ranking in ODIs.

"We have been Nos 1 or 2 in the ODIs over the last few seasons. In between, there have been series where we haven't done well and there has been a bit of a concern of not closing out games.

"But the reality is that in the last 3-4 years, we have had some good times in ODI cricket, so even when we have lost we have competed very well. That has been a positive for us and we have been doing well and we will continue to do well in the lead-up to the World Cup," Ashwin said.

England have struggled in the middle overs, particularly against the spinners, throwing their World Cup preparations haywire.

"It has been one of our strengths especially in middle overs and we have always operated in that fashion. There are times when the batsmen get going and we are not able to take wickets. Those are really hard times, but if we get a wicket or two, we can put a hold on the batsmen then that's a comfortable domain for us," he said.

The offie feels that a good start by the new ball bowlers helps the slow bowlers keep up the pressure.

"The ideal situation is when they are two-three wickets down and that's what happened in Cardiff when Shami bowled that initial spell.

"But if that doesn't happen, then you have to see how much of a restrictive role you are going to play because the batting team is going to have 9-10 wickets in the bag," he added.

Image: Ravichandran Ashwin in action

Photograph: Hamish Blair/Getty Images