How did Ravichandran Ashwin get success against Kumar Sangakkara?

Kumar Sangakkara’s struggle against Ravichandran Ashwin in the 2015 Test series is well known. Ashwin got Kumar Sangakkara out four times in 23 balls. Ravichandran Ashwin explained the reason behind this recently.

Ravichandran Ashwin explains

Although Kumar Sangakkara’s batting against off-spinners always have a reflection of his class and stature as a world-class batsman, it was against Ravichandran Ashwin that the Sri Lanka legend had to struggle. During 2015 Test series he was dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin four times in 23 balls. Ravichandran Ashwin was explaining the same, “When you are talking about Murali and Ajmal, you are talking about different types of bowlers. Murali and Ajmal brought a lot in terms of their doosra and off-break. They were very different from traditional off-spinners who banked on bowling from over the top and getting spin and bounce. Murali and Saeed Ajmal’s trick lied in the fact that the batsmen didn’t pick them.”.

He further added, “If you look at Sunil Narine, he’s pretty similar. He’s not about deception in the air, but deception in what is coming out of the hand. For someone, who picks them on what’s coming out of the hand, will naturally find them easy to bat. Likewise, Virender Sehwag found it easy to bat Muttiah Muralitharan”

Form of life

Ravichandran Ashwin was naturally asked about the 2015 Test series in the interview with Pakistan journalist Mazher Arshad to which he said that he (Ravichandran Ashwin) was “in the form of” of his life at that time. “Likewise Sanga, I was really, really lucky because I was in the form of my life. The ball was coming out like a dream, I didn’t have to think about anything. I felt like my entire action and rhythm was in motion.”

Ravichandran Ashwin opined, “I also felt that he got some really good balls, I was in a good phase. I was bowling like a dream to left-handers. I felt like whenever I saw any left-hander I could see who he was.” He went on to speak about Sri Lanka pitches which traditionally are not spin-friendly but “they have a good bounce and speed to carry an edge to the slips.”