Murugan Ashwin enjoys his session with Kumble

After being spotted as a ‘practice bowler’ for Chennai Super Kings, Murugan Ashwin became a regular in the yellow-brigade’s practice sessions. The leg-spinner, later, landed a contract with Rising Pune Supergiants, his biggest breakthrough in cricket, in the last edition of the Indian Premier League and started growing under the tutelage of R Ashwin and M S Dhoni. Ahead of the start of play on Sunday at the M A Chidambaram Stadium here, there was a flutter at the practice nets area outside the stadium. 

It was Murugan Ashwin flexing his muscles under the watchful eyes of India coach Anil Kumble. After a gruelling session, Ashwin rushed to watch Parthiv Patel and K L Rahul continue their opening stand and later said the head coach suggested some minor corrections to his bowling action. 

“Anil sir said I have a good bounce and spin. He suggested some changes at the point of release so that I can get a bit more consistent. He wanted me to bowl closer to the stumps and concentrate on more bounce too,” he added. 

According to the youngster, interacting with Kumble was a dream come true. “I grew up watching him bowl and he has been my inspiration. It was the first time I was interacting with him at length and it was a good experience. I learnt many tricks of the trade from him,” the 26-year-old leg-spinner said.