Ravichandran Ashwin.
Credit: PTI Photo
Rajkot: R Ashwin tried to sandbag his 500-wicket feat by wearing a long face to convey his disappointment over the fact that England have lost only two wickets in racing to 207 for 2 on the second day of the third Test in Rajkot.
England trail India’s first-innings 445 by 238 runs so Ashwin was probably thinking about all the work he and the rest of his bowling unit has to do. But after the initial hesitance and redirection towards the day’s play, he leaned into the milestone with sincerity and humility.
“Look, it's been a very long journey. I don't exactly know where to begin because I was an accidental spinner,” said the second-highest wicket-taker in Indian Test history. “I wanted to be a batter all along. Life gave me a chance, and when I walked into the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) dressing room, Muttiah Muralitharan didn't want to bowl with the new ball, and eventually I got tossed the new ball.
“I had a reasonable first-class start to my life, but the stage in the Indian Premier League made me visible to a lot of people. Eventually, I got my Test debut. People doubted whether I could be a Test bowler, and yeah, 10-13 years later, not bad. Not a bad achievement, so I'm pretty glad.”
Having started his career relatively late, Ashwin turned out to become an absolute beast in the longest format, picking up more wickets than anyone who has debuted after 25. Moreover, Ashwin has often been ignored by the selectors when it comes to India’s series abroad.
Despite all these limitations, the Tamil Nadu spinner has 500 wickets from 98 matches at an average of approximately 23.92 and a strike rate of approximately 51.5, and this includes 34 five-fers.
Still, as a 37-year-old, his future stands in the dark.
“That changes every month,” said Ashwin when asked about what the future holds. “I'm really happy where I am in life. I don’t know where this ‘intellectual’ perception of me came about, but if that's how people want to perceive me, great. I've always thought I fought a level of perception in my life. In the last six 5-6 years though I've actually not cared about it.
"I don't want to let go of the love for the game. At one point in my life, I was in a really dark space, and I didn't want to watch the game, and that's not where I want to go in my life ever again. I am back to watching all the games now.”
Though Ashwin reels off the string of games he caught as highlights or live last night, he is acutely aware of what he is up against. “It depends on what the yardsticks are,” he explained. “The yardstick that I would apply is how well one is bowling, how it is coming out of the hand, how much risk a batsman is having to take. They're able to take the risk and spread the field and get the singles going. But that's the way they want to play. We played four and a half sessions; (if) they want to get it done in two, so be it. Whether it's being challenging is how you want to look at it, and honestly, I don't think it's flustering us.”
ASHWIN QUOTE FIVE PENALTY RUNS FOR RUNNING ON PITCH
They clearly warned some of our batters yesterday for running on the pitch. I was aware of it, but my poor motor skills didn't allow me to get off the pitch in time. If if the English media and players think it was on purpose, it wasn't. I don't think that pitch is breaking because I ran with really thin spikes. I went to Joel (Wilson) and Kumar (Dharmasena) (the umpires) and I said it's purely poor motor skills. If I was any better, I would have been in the Olympics. Why play cricket?!