'Ashwin plays with the batsmen's mind'

After deceiving West Indies with his guile and spin (12-131) in the first Test at Dominica, Ravichandran Ashwin secured his 8th Ten-wicket match haul, becoming the joint-most for an Indian, alongside Anil Kumble. He is also just one 5-wicket haul in Tests behind Kumble’s 35.

His dozen coupled with debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 171 enabled India to wrap the proceedings by the third evening. India’s highest wicket-taker in Tests Anil Kumble praised the off-spinner's massive effort, the best for any Indian in West Indies.

“Ashwin plays with the batsmen’s mind. It is not just about the skills you have. It is also the ability to transfer pressure onto the batter which you could see in every batter that faced R Ashwin, you could see that in their body language,” former India Test captain Anil Kumble said on JioCinema.

Kumble also observed Ashwin’s optimal use of the crease against the home team’s left-handers, especially the way he got opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul.

“He bowled wide off the crease with the ball coming into the left-hander. Once the left-hander thought the balls will come in, is when Ashwin bowled that beautiful delivery to Chanderpaul which just drifted in and left him and took the off stump,” he said.

The former India captain and coach also praised Ashwin’s ability to read the pitch and bowl accordingly. The second Test between India and West Indies starts on July 20.