India Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is known for discussing very interesting cricketing facts along with many former and current cricketers and analysts of the game in his YouTube channel. In an episode aired in his channel yesterday (17), Ashwin discussed about the “Evolution Of The Carrom Ball”.
Ashwin, a master of the carrom ball himself, discussed the past, present and the future of the variation with popular analyst Prasanna Raman. Replying to Ashwin’s query on who introduced the Carrom Ball to the World, Prasanna Said,
“Rangana Herath first bowled it in 1999 against the Aussies. He bowled Australian captain Steve Waugh with a ‘New Ball’ which shocked many as none have seen it before. However I am not sure why Herath didn’t bowl that delivery much thereafter.”
“It was Ajantha Mendis however, who introduced the Carrom Ball to the World. I can still remember how he won the match against India in 2008 where India were 70 odd for one chasing 274” Prasanna, who is currently South Africa’s lead performance analyst, further added.
Prasanna was recalling the 2008 Asia Cup final when Ajantha Mendis single handedly won the match for Sri Lanka with a brilliant 6 for 13 off 8 overs. India were cruising to victory at one stage at 76/1 in just 9 overs. Eventually India crashed to 173 all out, in 39.3 overs thanks to Mendis’s mysterious spell.
Ashwin and Prasanna also discussed the fall of Mendis as well. They agreed that if Mendis had played in an era where there was not much video analysis involved in the game as now, he would have been a legend of the game.
“It is definitely due to video analysis. There is no doubt.” Prasanna added when asked if it is video analysis or Mendis’s inability to adapt, which ended his career prematurely.
The in-depth discussion by these two gentlemen begs the question if Ajantha Mendis would have turned out to be a more potent and a lasting weapon for Sri Lanka cricket, if some additional effort had been put to protect him and if more guidance was offered to him to evolve in the modern game.
Ashwin’s Interview: