NEW DELHI: Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is adding a surprise leg-break to his already formidable bag of tricks but is convinced that the controversial ‘doosra’ cannot be bowled with a straight arm.

Ashwin wants to add more variety to his craft and sees nothing wrong in an off-spinner bowling an occasional leg-break.

“I always keep trying things,” the spinner told Times of India newspaper. I feel if a batsman can play a reverse sweep, I can also bowl leg-break.

“With that thought, I have been trying the leg-break and I think I have mastered it now. But I will be sure when I unleash one in a match situation and take the top of off-stump.

“The next one is probably the googly and the flipper, but I haven’t tried those,” said the spinner.

“Carrom ball is a proper knuckle ball and it can’t be bowled with an offspinner’s grip,” Ashwin said.

“It is a finger-spinning ball and you don’t use the wrist or elbow to bowl it... it’s like a legal leg-break. But I don’t think the doo­sra can be bowled without bending your arm, may be the topspinner but not the doosra.”

Published in Dawn, January 1st, 2016