Ravichandran Ashwin
Ravichandran Ashwin wants to be in his prime against South Africa in the upcoming marathon series.Reuters
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India's No. 1 tweaker Ravichandran Ashwin wants to steal all the limelight when on the field just like Virat Kohli. Ashwin has been in superb form off-late and he also wants to be at his sublime best against the No. 1 Test team in the world.

India will host South Africa in the upcoming month in a marathon series that will include three Twenty20 (T20) internationals, five ODIs and four Test matches starting from 2 October. Ashwin will be a crucial player for Team India across all three formats of the international game against the Proteas. 

"I want to be the centre stage when I take the field, I want to be the bowler that I am, like how Virat [Kohli] has been for India as a batsman. From that point of view, it is a little hard [short spells] but I am able to slowly understand how important it is. When you are bowling quality stuff, the amount of longer spells that you bowl can come down a wee bit," Ashwin was quoted as saying by Wisden India. 

Ashwin recently came back from a successful series against Sri Lanka where he picked up 21 wickets in just three matches and was adjudged the man of the series for his outstanding bowling performances. Ashwin, who loves to bowl long spells in Test cricket, felt that he just loves adding scalps to his name and he does not like the fact that the ball is taken away from him at times.

"I love bowling long spells. I hate the fact that the ball is taken away from my hand at times. Five wickets is not something that I set as a benchmark, I want to keep going – six, seven, eight. Because I just love picking up wickets," Ashwin added.

Ashwin is somebody who always criticises himself and that indeed is a positive sign for a bowler who wants to add more wickets to his name and also grow in confidence. Ashwin felt that this will help him in near future and especially against South Africa.

"In the past, I have made errors but I still think they were not errors. They were very good errors to make. If somebody hit me, I used to run in and put more revolutions on the ball, try and get them out," Ashwin said.