Greatest off-spinning waterboy of all time?

Either, the Indian team with all its experience and nous doesn’t know how to read a pitch, or those in charge of dictating team composition can’t find it in them to admit that they aren’t particularly confident of R Ashwin's abilities in some conditions.

Both instances show them in poor light, but none worse than the inescapable bowling short-comings in the face of Australia’s charge against them on the first two days of the WTC Final at The Oval.

‘Horses for courses’ has been their go-to argument for about a decade for it’s an easy ideology to rely on when cornered, but in what world can you use ‘conditions’ as a justification for leaving out arguably the greatest off-spinner India has ever produced?! And still, Paras Mhambrey, the bowling coach, cited the same for leaving out Ashwin and picking the sole spinner in Ravindra Jadeja.In the last 10 Tests at The Oval, spinners have picked up 68 wickets at an average of 34.84 while pacers have scalped 252 wickets at 30.58. Purely on average, spinners aren't too much behind pacers at this venue. That’s an inexorable fact.

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So, the fact that the ball would offer copious bounce on the hard strip, though green, was ancient knowledge. That there would be turn too was common comprehension, and by how much was evident on the first day when Jadeja got a fair few to spit and bounce. But by then, Rohit Sharma and Co were playing catch up, more so since they picked to bowl first after hinging on their premature assessment of the conditions.

Pitches can be a gamble at times so one could, plausibly, absolve the management for the call, but that they didn’t rely on pre-existing data to include Ashwin in the side is as bizarre as it is questionable. And, this is not the first time they have chosen to leave out the Tamil Nadu spinner who has 474 Test wickets from 92 games at a strike rate of 51.84. Also, Ashwin, with five Test centuries and 3129 runs, can bat a bit. Still, he was overlooked during India’s tour of England in 2021 despite putting up a decent show against New Zealand in the opening edition of the WTC final. India picked Jadeja and Ashwin on a damp track at the Rose Bowl in Southampton, and that resulted in an eight-wicket loss. The backfiring of that decision could have played a part in influencing their call this time around. But then, relying on memory defies the immediacy of the ‘horses for courses’ stance.

See, Ashwin’s away record isn’t flattering at first glance for it pales in comparison to the likes of Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and others in terms of wickets taken, but he has only played 36 Tests and picked up 133 scalps at a strike rate of 65.4. Also, in the seven Tests he has played in England he has 18 wickets at a strike rate of 66.7. Once again, better than the likes of Kumble and Harbhajan in terms of strike rate. Even if you ignore career stats and keep the argument down to this WTC cycle, Ashwin is the leading Indian wicket-taker with 61 from 13 Tests at an average of 19.87.

Oh, and he is definitively the greatest bowler against left-handers for he has dismissed 230 of them in his career. That’s well ahead of Muttiah Muralitharan, James Anderson and others of that ilk.

That statistic is particularly significant when you consider the fact that Australia have five left-handers in their playing XI (David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Alex Carey, Mitchell Starc) for this match. Despite this, and oft-conveyed message that Ashwin is one of the game’s greats, the management chose to play four seamers and Jadeja when they could well have left out either Shardul Thakur or Umesh Yadav to give the spin duo another chance to dance. Also, remember the golden rule: you pick the team for two innings in a Test and just one innings.

Since they didn’t, Ashwin is in the stands, eyes behind reflective sunglasses, as one of the greatest off-spinning waterboys in the history of the game.