Another day, another Ashwin five-for

Statutory warning. There will be nothing new in this article. It's about R Ashwin.

He took a five-wicket haul. That's happened 21 times before. He dismissed the opposition's best batsmen. That's pretty much been standard too. However, it is only now that England are experiencing all that first-hand. They had known Ashwin as the bloke who averaged over 50 against them, with a best of 3 for 72. Never as the bowler he is now. The equal of Malcolm Marshall, Waqar Younis, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh. At least in numbers, if not quite yet in aura.

There is, however, no mistaking Ashwin's pedigree as an offspinner in the subcontinent.

"I was able to get the ball to hang in the air," he said matter-of-factly on Friday. Gravity sat and sulked in the corner. "And also drift on to the batsmen, and kind of straighten it from stump lines." England joined gravity in said corner, both muttering "no fair."

Ashwin can turn the ball a long way in helpful conditions. Joe Root found that out yesterday when he lunged out to defend outside his off stump and could have been bowled through the gate. He can also control the amount of deviation with subtle changes in his action. Ben Stokes was lbw with one that went straight. Then there are the angles he can create by going wide of the crease or around the wicket or even simply altering the position of his arm. Adil Rashid's outside edge was beaten in this fashion quite often. A measure of Ashwin's confidence over his ability to replicate that delivery over and over was his naughty little smile when other bowlers may have belched frustrated words.

Those are the enhancements to his offbreak. Besides that, he has an arm ball that actually swings away from the right-hander and a carrom ball.

None of this is to suggest Ashwin is peerless. It is meant to be a measure of how far he has come since the 2012 series against England, when he was bullied by Kevin Pietersen and brushed aside by Alastair Cook. Since the Mumbai Test of that series, he has taken 17 five-fors, more than any other bowler. Another sign of his growth is that nowadays, he fields at mid-off, trotting across to the bowler when he comes across an idea worth exploring, rather like Zaheer Khan used to do.

"From the moment I walked into the Indian Test team, I haven't been worried about going and telling something I felt to any other bowler," Ashwin said. "I've shared my opinion with everybody. So That's not something new. But yes, I'm quite enjoying it. Virat [Kohli] obviously communicates a lot of things to mid-off and then I go and tell the bowler about what he wants him to do."

Ashwin has become the threat he is by being incredibly accurate. All the variations in the world are useless unless you put the ball in the same spot and ask the batsman to play as often as possible. When he can't read what it will do, he won't be able to deal with it and you win. This is why he is so hard to face as a new batsman. He sizes up his opponent - say, Ben Duckett, who tends to stay leg-side of the ball - manipulates him with his variations - going around the stumps to make him play down the wrong line - and then takes him out.

"I'm very sure he's going to thrust his pad forward the next innings," Ashwin said about Duckett. "I'm looking forward to try and play on his confusion."