On Ravichandran Ashwin

IND greatest matchwinner yet plays his 100th Test

Ravichandran Ashwin once told my friend Subash Jayaraman that “six well-constructed bad balls could be the way to go forward in T20 cricket”. No modern bowler has examined the line between a good ball and a bad ball more closely in cricket than Ashwin has. No modern bowler has invented so many different types of good balls in Test cricket as Ashwin has.

Ashwin attacks all the time, and find new ways to attack all the time. He observes batters closely and uses his considerable armoury with precision. It would not be unfair to suggest that at times he is guilty of pursuing this precision excessively. His guilt is often brought into stark relief by the seemingly uncomplicated brilliance of his partner Ravindra Jadeja¹. Jadeja is the great minimalist of the age. His repeatable action, his ability to spin the ball hard and get it to dip on the batter, his iron control of length, and his willingness to bully the batter through relentless, endless accuracy, make him a formidable spin bowling machine in the DRS era. Ashwin’s bowling on the other hand, is often the great Rube Goldberg puzzle of the age.

No off-spinner has explored the possibilities of seam, revolutions, back-spin, flight, bounce, dip and drift as Ashwin has. Just take the most recent example - his five wicket haul in Ranchi. Ball tracking records have been published at one time or another for 75 of Ashwin’s 99 Tests - a treasure which should ideally produce half a dozen great books. For now, lets see some of those wickets.

The ball which dismissed Joe Root in the 3rd innings of the Ranchi Test drifted 3.0 degrees from leg to off in flight. If it had gone straight, it would have pitched 2 feet outside leg stump. As it happened, it pitched dead on leg stump. What’s more, Ashwin knew had pitched on leg stump. But that’s not all. If it had pitched where it did and continued, it would have probably missed off stump. But it pitched and then turned 4.5 degrees from off to leg to straighten into leg stump. The drift, dip and turn at 89 kph meant that what started as a half volley 2 feet outside leg stump ended up as a vicious off break which pitched within the stumps on a length, and turned past Root’s bat to crash into his pad.

In the same innings, the ball which dismissed Ben Foakes was delivered from over the wicket. It drifted 0.7 degrees from off to leg and then turned 4.5 degrees from leg to off. It was slower - 86 kph compared to Ashwin’s more common 90 kph - and fuller (3.1m length, nearly a half volley.) Foakes thought it was a half volley on leg stump. The leading edge produced by the dipping ball lobbed dutifully towards Ashwin.

In the same innings, the ball which dismissed Ollie Pope was quicker - 94kph. It pitched on a 5.4m length, pushing Pope back on his stumps. It drifted 2.3 degrees of leg to off and turned only a smidge - 0.7 degrees from off to leg - just enough to beat Pope’s bat. It was a rock aimed at the top of Pope’s leg stump.

Before these three dismissals, Duckett had been done in by a standard off-break. Drifted in 2.3 degrees (from off to leg for the lefty), pitched on a 5.5m length at 92 kph, and turned 0.9 degrees. Duckett was playing forward, the ball took his handle and short leg took the catch. Ben Duckett has played, perhaps, 20 forward defenses against Ashwin in his career. He’s been dismissed at least 4 times.

It takes immense strength and control to bowl as Ashwin does. He bowls quick enough to make it difficult for the batters to run down the pitch against him, but slow enough so he can get the ball to drift, dip and turn. He turns the ball both ways or not at all. He knows exactly where he is pitching the ball.

This combination iron control and seemingly infinite variety makes Ashwin IND’s greatest match-winner yet. IND have won 58 of his 99 Tests. His 507 wickets at 24/51 have contributed immensely. Many great bowlers have Ashwin’s accuracy, some others turn the ball as hard as he does, a few have his variety. But is there any bowler (except perhaps Shane Warne), who combines Ashwin’s invention with Ashwin’s mastery?

When IND tour overseas, host teams try desperately to prepare pitches where two spinners would be considered an enormous luxury, and less than 4 fast bowlers, a mistake. Since the start of 2018, IND have played 22 Tests in ENG, SA or NZ. In those, the host bowlers have bowled spin 12.6% of deliveries at IND’s Test batters. In the same period, these teams have bowled spin 19% of deliveries at other Test visitors. AUS have been different (they have the great Nathan Lyon). In AUS, IND have won twice, and Ashwin has starred (18 wickets at 27.5 in 4 Tests). Perhaps AUS will consider preparing exclusively fast bowling pitches later this year and take Ashwin out of the game the way ENG, SA and NZ have done.

There is, nevertheless, endless talk of Ashwin benefiting from “doctored” pitches. So I looked at how other spinners have done in the Tests Ashwin as played. I did the same for all other bowlers (pace or spin) who have at least 300 career wickets. Readers can see the table and the accompanying chart for themselves below. It speaks for itself.

Fitness permitting, Jasprit Bumrah will eventually surpass Ashwin as IND’s greatest match winner in Test cricket. But until that happens, the spot belongs to Ashwin. No other player comes close.

In cricket, as in every other great sport and in art, there is a perennial tension between classicism and unorthodoxy. There is a right way to do things, and then there is the classic way of doing things. And then, there are the originals. Ashwin is an original. He has never been hemmed in by classicism or convention. He has taken the laws of cricket as his only north star. His creed can be summarized in one word - Compete. Ashwin is a peerless competitor, an all time great bowler, a magnificent cricketer. Only the very greatest players make it to their 100th Test, and even they need to be lucky to get there. Few who have got there have been as good as Ashwin. It has been marvellous to watch Ashwin in his 99 Tests². May there be many more.

1. Read Ashwin on Jadeja here.

2. Ashwin also has 3309 runs in his 99 Tests. He completed the double of 3000 runs and 300 wickets in his 88th Test. Kapil Dev and Richard Hadlee did it in 83.