A pointy thoughts with a penchant for making an attempt out new issues, senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is relentless in his bowling strategy and all the time tries to maintain himself one step forward of opposition batters, his long-time nationwide team-mate Cheteshwar Pujara stated. Ashwin is about to play his one hundredth Test within the final recreation of the five-match sequence in Dharamsala starting on March 7. He went previous the 500-wicket mark within the third Test in Rajkot to turn out to be solely the second Indian to realize the feat.

“Reading batters has always been a key part of what Ash does. He is always one step ahead, alert to the smallest cues. He is constantly observing the batter… No detail is too small for his sharp mind. He puts a lot of effort into each delivery,” Pujara wrote in his column for ‘ESPNcricinfo’.

“Having just become the second quickest bowler to 500 Test wickets, Ash now deserves another equally significant landmark – of 100 Tests. He’s probably a little late getting there for various reasons. But I am really happy for him. He is someone who has always been ready to take the challenge on and do the hard yards for the team. He deserves it the most.

“He has developed and survived for a very long time regardless of taking part in a number of codecs, and that’s primarily due to his revolutionary thoughts: he’s not afraid or shy to check out new issues, even at the price of failing within the course of.” Pujara, who also played his 100th Test last year but has been out favour currently, said there was no respite for batters while facing Ashwin as he was always on a look-out for taking wicket.

“There’s no respite. If you are comfy batting in opposition to him from over the stumps, he’ll change to around the stumps, from the place he is ready to create that angle the place, if the ball goes straight, there’s an edge in play even in case you are trying to defend.

“He is constantly observing the batter, his trigger, where the backlift is coming from, which stump he is on. So if a batter is looking to sweep, Ash will go a little fuller and try and block him by bowling the quicker delivery, almost a yorker length, and get an lbw.” Pujara cited an instance of Ashwin’s meticulous preparation earlier than a match.

“He (Ashwin) has spoken previously about how he obsessively pored over videos of Steve Smith several months before India’s tour of Australia in 2020-21. Before the Melbourne Test, I remember we chalked out the plan of having a leg gully against Smith because there was a bit of moisture, which made the ball hold a bit.

“And that’s the reason Ash ended up bowling with the brand new ball. Part of the plan was additionally that he would come around the stumps to create the angle. And the plan labored – I caught Smith at leg gully.” Pujara also had the privilege of “having fun with up shut” Ashwin’s duels against star England batter Joe Root, another fine player of spin. The two are set to renew their rivalry in Dharamsala again.

“If you take a look at his file, Root has all the time been a proactive batter – he’ll both attempt to play the sweep or reverse sweep, or attempt to rotate the strike so he does not need to face six balls off any explicit bowler. I’m not saying that Root does not defend effectively, however general, his recreation plan is to place bowlers underneath stress.

“To counter that, Ashwin’s tactic has been to keep Root on strike by taking out the short leg or other close-in fielders, leaving just one slip, and placing a fielder at square leg to prevent the single. It doesn’t matter whether you are playing on a flat pitch or on a turner, Ash wants Root to defend those six balls and see how he reacts.

“It is a battle of wills between two high gamers, which makes for an engrossing contest.” Pujara also described Ashwin as “most likely one of many fittest I’ve identified” among the bowlers, ending up bowling 30, 35, 40 overs in a day, but he still has the stamina to carry on next day.

Outside of cricket matters, Pujara said “you may by no means win an argument” against Ashwin.

“He may be very good, and his vocabulary might be among the many greatest within the cricketing fraternity.

“But Ash is not a bad loser. We play table tennis and tennis – two things in which I enjoy having an edge over him! – and he is a good sport.

“I want I had his unimaginable reminiscence. That might be as a result of he has a thoughts that’s all the time ticking. Away from cricket, he’s a voracious reader, enjoys chess on-line, and is open to studying new issues.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)