Ashwin reaps the rewards of consistency

Ravi Shastri's best figures in ODI cricket came at the WACA ground in Perth. Monty Panesar took five wickets in an England attack that had Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff. Both these instances are cues to the fact that even spinners can be successful at the WACA. R Ashwin thrives at this venue, but his second Man-of-the-Match performance at the venue is an extension of how well he has bowled so far in the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup.

Ashwin has been a different bowler in this competition, willing to give the ball air and operating in the middle overs with precision, the result being he is has the second most wickets among spinners here, after South Africa's Imran Tahir. Against Pakistan, he sent down three maidens in his eight overs before stifling South Africa at the MCG with figures of 3 for 41. UAE couldn't fare better, surrendering four wickets to the offspinner to give him his career-best figures.

"I think Ash bowled really well," Dhoni said of Ashwin's bowling after the UAE game. "What's really important is according to the wicket you have to change your bowling to some extent. You have to find the right length and the right trajectory to bowl, and I felt Ash did that really well. He did use his faster one, also, and he was quite successful to get a bit of swing on it, and that was the reason he got a couple of wickets out of those particular deliveries. But I felt his line and length was superb and the pace at which he bowled."

Spinners doing well at the WACA is not unheard of, and Ashwin highlighted that by getting appreciable turn off the surface, often beating the bat of the UAE batsmen. Against Pakistan and South Africa, Ashwin had big totals to bowl with and he benefited by their batsmen's need to go for quick runs. At the WACA, his height gave him extra bounce that the UAE batsmen found tough to negotiate, another factor that has aided his bowling on Australian pitches.

"He took four wickets, he bowled extremely well," UAE captain Mohammad Tauqir said. "I think more than his turn, I think it was the bounce that was creating a problem for us. He was getting some very good bounce, you know, and of course he bowled well. He took four wickets, and he won them the game."

Ashwin has often been criticized for trying too much too soon, but it is the control that he has impressed with the most so far, thanks to, by his own admission in an interview to bcci.tv, using the crease and a better release from the hand.

India's best start to a World Cup after winning their first three games has been as much about the bowlers as it has been about the batsmen getting runs, and their fortunes in the tournament would depend on how the bowlers continue to perform in their upcoming matches.