Ashwin cements legacy to emulate

The build-up to the opening Test against Sri Lanka was all about Virat Kohli playing a momentous 100th game in India whites. Then ‘Rockstar’ Ravindra Jadeja stole the spotlight and made the match his own with a spellbinding all-round performance seldom seen in Test cricket. Amidst this hype and carnage, another man stood tall, quite literally.

Perhaps India’s greatest match-winner at home in the current line-up, off-spinner R Ashwin added another feather to his decorated cap when he surpassed the legendary Kapil Dev’s tally of 434 wickets after dismissing Sri Lanka’s Charith Asalanka. Ashwin, holder of a record nine-man of the series awards, is now India’s second highest wicket-taker with only Anil Kumble’s benchmark of 619 ahead of him.

The magnanimity of the occasion was not lost on Ashwin. “28 years ago, I was cheering the great @therealkapildev on to get his world record tally of wickets,” the 35-year-old said on his Instagram account. “I never had the slightest of ideas that I would become an off-spinner, play for my country and even manage to go past the great mans tally of wickets. I am delighted and very grateful to what this game has given me so far,” he added.

Ashwin, like every other cricketer, has gone through several ups and downs but the supremely self-confident offie has displayed enormous character and courage to scale a peak that had been out of bounds for many fine bowlers in the past. His predecessor Harbhajan Singh, who broke through the Indian side as a precocious teenager and went on to play 103 Tests, only managed 417 scalps. Amongst active spinners in world cricket only Australian Nathan Lyon, currently involved in the series against Australia, is close to Ashwin with 416 wickets. Ashwin’s partner in crime Jadeja is far behind at 241.

All this would not have been possible without the zeal to constantly evolve and stay one step ahead of his rivals and batsmen too. One of those cricketers who earned a Test call-up owing to his IPL exploits, Ashwin experimented vehemently in his early days. Man of the series winner on his debut against West Indies in November 2011, Ashwin went on to bamboozle batsmen with such a cocktail of deliveries that at times he bowled six different balls in an over.

Perhaps that was because of the amount of white-ball cricket he was playing at that stage. The constant experiments even led to a self-inflicted confusion and harsh scrutiny. A qualified engineer who now anchors his own show on YouTube, Ashwin figured out that while having varieties is essential, success is achieved by mastering the stock ball — classic off-spin. Since then, he has gone about decimating several batting attacks in home conditions. He’s been brilliant at reading a batsman’s mind, knows exactly how much to turn a ball and is phenomenal at using the drift and dip, a craft that’s extremely difficult to employ.

“You know, I have been watching Ashwin for a long time now and every time, I watch him, he seems to get better and better. (He’s an) all-time great in my eyes. He is playing for so many years and performed for the country. So many match winning performances, so for me he is an all-time great. People might have a different point of view but from where I see, he is an all-time great for me,” remarked skipper Rohit Sharma.

While the ‘all-time great’ comment is debatable considering a lion’s share of Ashwin’s success has come on home soil — 306 in India and 130 away — there’s no denying the fact that he’s one of the finest practitioners of slow bowling. In an era of fast bowling richness where teams use spinners as defensive options, Ashwin has never been about containment. Even on foreign soil where he doesn’t get the same purchase off the pitch, he’s never stopped trying. The pursuit for continued excellence is what has made him stand in a league of his own.

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