Ashwin – superstar bowler in the making
Anil Kumble hung up his boots. We still had Harbhajan, we thought. But he was half the bowler without Kumble bowling from the other end. It is okay, we still have the batsmen to murder spin, we thought. And then they left- one by one.
The new generation batting superstars are yet to show solidity against good quality spin bowling, let alone their command against it. Home advantage through spinning tracks was almost about to be a thing of the past. In fact, if the likes of Ishant and Umesh had shown more consistency, India might have as well considered moving to seaming wickets as their best shot at home glory.
Cut to the present, India will face New Zealand in a home series and they are expected to go with spin-friendly pitches. The debate on whether it is a sporting wicket can wait for another day. But something has moved. No, it is not the batting. This batting line-up can still collapse to get all out for 200 on an innocuous day one pitch, losing a clutch of wickets to a part-time spinner. But something is definitely changing on the bowling front.
Slowly but surely, Ravichandran Ashwin is completing the transition from being a good bowler with variations to being a great bowler with control.
In the series against South Africa, Ashwin’s bowling was a joy to watch. He was the best bowler on show, by a distance. He might have got a few wickets off average deliveries, but the consistent pressure he has put the Proteas under has been hard to miss. Ashwin always had the ability. What he is now enjoying is a stellar phase where he has a lot of confidence in that ability. Confidence, which made him invite the likes of Amla and AB to cover drive leaving the field wide open. Confidence, which made him toss the ball up after being hit for a boundary. Confidence, which allowed Kohli to demand a pitch that would take turn.
Ashwin made his debut when he was 24, pretty late by Indian standards. He was not really making waves in the domestic scene - he was steady at best. He caught the eye of the cricketing world in the third season of IPL. After an indifferent start led to him being dropped mid-season, he came back strongly in the second half. He would show good temperament while bowling to the big bad guys in the big bad powerplay overs. His scalps would include the likes of Gayle and Gilchrist. All of a sudden, Dhoni had a guy to rely on for the crucial overs and Ashwin would rarely ever let him down as CSK went on to clinch the trophy.
With the ruling dispensation of Indian cricket the way it was, a good performance for CSK would not go unnoticed. And soon enough, Ashwin got his chance in India colours. Within a year of selection, he would be part of a victorious World cup campaign where he had a couple of decent outings. He would go on to win a Test cap later that year. In his debut series against the West Indies, Ashwin would lead India to a 2-0 win with a 'man of the series' performance.
And then came the litmus test for any spinner - a tour down under. Ashwin only managed 9 wickets at over 62 apiece. He would go back home to string together one brilliant performance after another, but this performance would continue to rankle him. He would come back Down Under in a few years’ time and pick up 12 wickets in 3 Test matches.In his own assessment, it would be a defining series for him. A series after which, he took seven 5-wicket hauls in 8 tests in 2015 and became the go-to bowler for Kohli. He also ended up being the leading wicket taker in 2015 with 62 wickets from 9 Tests.
Ashwin is a keen student of the game. His dissection of his own game tends to border on the obsessive. But that has made him a better player. He was guilty of trying too many variations earlier. Then he reined himself in. He had a bad home series against England where he was not putting enough revolutions on the ball. He is rarely guilty of that nowadays. Like many off-spinners, he would often fall into the trap of bowling a safe line within the wickets on middle and leg stump – the Ashwin of today constantly attacks the off stump from a line outside off. He is learning from his failures to eliminate his weaknesses rapidly and adding to his strengths as well and that augurs well for the Indian team’s fortunes in Test cricket.
Earlier in the series against South Africa, Ashwin got Amla - no less, stumped by deceiving him in the flight. It was a brilliant exhibition of spin bowling and a masterful use of the seam to get the ball to drift and dip. The dismissal had nothing to do with helpful conditions - just excellent bowling. And therein lies hope for the Indian fan. It could have been at the Wanderers, or at the Oval or at the WACA. And that is where he pulls away from the likes of Jadeja and Mishra. Jadeja has been putting on a top show in this series as well, but much of that also has to do with the pitch conditions. On slightly less helpful surfaces against top batsman, it is hard to see Jadeja enjoying the same success.
Top dismissals like that of Amla’s stick in the mind, but this was no aberration. Over the last fourvTest series, Ashwin has been in complete control of his bowling and of India’s fortunes. In the Test against Bangladesh, he bowled some of his best bowling at Test match level, though the quality of the opposition might have robbed some of the sheen off it. He followed it up with another masterly display in Sri Lanka where he made the great Sanga his bunny.
The switch though was flipped in the tour to Australia just before the World cup. He might not have the wickets to show for it, but he put in a very impressive performance. He bowled with control and created chances. In his own words, he understood a lot about his own bowling without having as much success as he would have liked to. And he has come off a better bowler from the gruelling and win-less tour. Only someone who understands his game very well can take a lot of positives from a series with results as dispiriting as those. And he has not looked back since.
Ashwin turns 30 today and entering a phase where most bowlers are at their best. Five years into international cricket, Ashwin is now adept at thinking wickets and setting up batsmen. Starting off as a limited overs specialist overly reliant on the carom ball, Ashwin has come a long way in disciplining himself into becoming a world class bowler in favourable conditions.He had another memorable series against the West Indies where he ended up scoring 235 runs and took 17 wickets, confirming his position as the No.1 all-rounder in Tests.
It will of course help him if he comes in to bowl at two- wickets-down for not plenty on the board, as against always coming on to stem the flow within the first 10 overs of a Test innings. Even the legendary Shane Warne often had the luxury to come in to bowl after the likes of Glenn McGrath had put the top order under pressure.
As we get deeper into what is an important home season for a young Indian squad, Ashwin has got to be one of the first names on the sheet. Apart from being the leader of the bowling pack, he also contributes very handy runs with the bat. He is truly an MVP, a fact recognized by the BCCI – he is the only bowler in a very small group of players handed out Grade - A contracts.
In his short test match career, he has six man of the series awards. To put things in perspective, Sachin and Sehwag have five such awards over their careers. Unfair to compare with batsmen? Steyn has 5 too, and over a significantly longer career. It will indeed take a rapid improvement in his overseas record for him to be considered a truly great bowler, but the signs are encouraging and he is very much on the right track.
He did not start off as a schoolboy prodigy – he was an IT engineer who could have ended up visiting the Chepauk more to watch than play. On his debut, there was no air of expectation – he just slipped in unnoticeable. But slowly and surely, he is turning into one of India’s best-ever match winners in Test matches.
Though it is bowlers that win you matches, it is hard to win recognition unless you are a fire-breathing Shoaib Akhtar or a mercurial Shane Warne. But, if Ashwin continues in the same vein, he might go on to become the first bowler-superstar in a country that only knows how to fete its batting heroes.