Ashwin finds new wings in flight

There was a phase in 2013-14 when R Ashwin went close to 80 overs and seven weeks without taking a wicket across formats. India failed to win a single game on their tours to South Africa and New Zealand. Ignored for the Test matches after a fruitless showing in Johannesburg, Ashwin averaged 169 for a lone wicket in the three South Africa ODIs. In the five New Zealand games, another solitary wicket cost him 227 runs.

After the fourth ODI in Hamilton, Ashwin said that he could not keep taking wickets all the time. That it had become difficult to contain batsmen with only four fielders allowed in the deep. That the default mode was to stop the boundaries and concede only singles. "It is easy to say wickets are not coming so I will look for wickets, but you end up giving 20-30 runs extra and you have to get it back at the end of the day," Ashwin had said then.

A year later in neighbouring Australia, Ashwin is India's leading wicket-taker halfway through the group stage of their World Cup campaign, with eight strikes from three games at an average of 13.37 and an economy-rate of 3.82.

Defending successive targets of 300 or more against Pakistan and South Africa has definitely helped. The batsmen were not getting that amount of runs on the tours of South Africa and New Zealand. In the third match, having a UAE line-up unsure about how to handle the bounce in the WACA pitch also helped.

Whatever help he may have received, there can be no contesting the fact that Ashwin has gone looking for wickets this World Cup. Backed by the bigger boundaries in Australia, he has tossed the ball up more often than not. He has relied on the offbreak that, with extra flight, has spun and bounced more. He has used his variations - there have even been seam-up away swingers - but he has used them sparingly. The extra bounce in Australia means that even his flatter ones have been harder to put away. He has worked on his angles and on using the width of the crease better. And he has preferred going over the wicket more than round it.

In looking for wickets, he has also not conceded any extra runs, the risk he had talked about in New Zealand. As a result, India have looked a different side in the middle overs. They have used the extra fielder available inside the circle in catching positions. Runs have been throttled by spin, and importantly, partnerships have been broken. Slip. Leg slip. They have all come into play.

"When we were losing quite a few games outside the subcontinent, it was an area of concern that we were not getting wickets in the middle overs," MS Dhoni said after the UAE game. "Now we are getting wickets with the new ball and the spinners are able to put more pressure on the batsmen in the middle overs."

Three of Ashwin's eight overs against Pakistan were maidens, and Virat Kohli said that had changed the course of the match. That also requires a high degree of accuracy, something Ashwin has always had. It is what has made him a favoured limited-overs spinner for India, who use him regularly in the batting Powerplay.

Ashwin has understood that over time, and made peace with the fact that he will have to bowl unglamorously round the wicket into the pads to a leg-side field to try and restrict scoring with limited protection in the deep. That line brings its own set of criticisms, but it has to be kept in mind just how hard it has become for slow bowlers. Often nowadays, there is no sweeper on the off side for the offspinner. There is almost no margin for error.

"I bowl at such phases of the game, it's more of cutting the runs out," Ashwin said after taking his first ODI four-for, against UAE. "It can get a little difficult. When it comes to this format, I'm pretty much unselfish, it doesn't matter if I get the numbers or not as long as I put in the effort required."

Which is why it has been pleasing to see Ashwin go about it a bit differently this World Cup. And so far, he has also had the numbers to show for that effort.