As the cricket ball loops in the air off his fingers it announces many conspiracies. It’s a load of riddles that the batsmen have to negotiate, first in the mind and then on the pitch. Some manage it well, many don’t. Ravichandran Ashwin is called the sharpest cricketing brain in the world for a reason. He plays mind games with batters with some dexterity.
He is a genius who has not received the same appreciation from Indian cricket fans as from the players’ community worldwide. The irony is entrenched deep in our fan culture. He is a spinner; it’s successful batsmen and fast bowlers who always are objects of worship and adulation in the country. Spinners don’t exude muscularity. The abilities of the brain don’t count for much.
Of course, it doesn’t matter to Ashwin anymore.
His performance speaks for him. While playing in Chennai against Bangladesh in the ongoing series, he became the first ever cricketer in history to have more than 20 fifty-plus scores and more than 30 five-wicket hauls in Test cricket (he has 37 so far). With a 100-plus score, he equalled M S Dhoni’s number of hundreds. He has 522 scalps in Tests so far compared to 530 of Nathan Lyon, the contemporary Aussie great. He is the ninth bowler to cross 500 wickets in 147 years of Test cricket, and the fastest after Sri Lankan legend Muthaiah Muralidharan to achieve the feat. He has six centuries to his credit. And he comes low in the batting order.
The problem with numbers is they are bland, soulless They never tell the story of sweat, tears, struggles and emotional turmoil the subject passes through. Ashwin’s struggles involved career-threatening injuries and a longish spell of below par performances. It was patellar tendonitis between 2017 and 2019, he said in an interview to cricketmonthly.com, then it was athletic pubalgia and next an abdominal tear. The health issues nearly drove him to the thought of quitting cricket. But the fighter in him struck back. And how! The numbers should come in now.
A brilliant brain good at self-analysis was the force behind his comeback – it’s the same brain that goes into his rich arsenal of deliveries, including the carrom ball, arm ball, top spin, off spin and side spin, and that keeps batsmen in a state of mental mess. His training in engineering, in his own admission, has come handy in his cricketing career. It provides depth to his thought process, making him understand both his body and game better.
It has also brought into him the sense of equanimity. He doesn’t mind much being overlooked as a strong bowling choice in the clutch of countries collectively known as SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) anymore. India’s need for an additional batting option in these countries besides his own weakness in deploying the tricks up his sleeve in conditions there, have come in the way. Also, he is cool when he is the first one to be considered for the axe when the team requires an additional all-rounder in the mix at home. Interestingly, he always considers himself an all-rounder rather than a pure bowler. His skills with the bat justify him.
The primary trait in every fighter is fearlessness. Ashwin exemplifies it in different ways. It was in ample display at Sidney in 2021 when he took vicious blows on the body for a 128-ball 39. It was a match-saving inning full of character. His 102 against England at Chennai in 2022 was another gem. However, his fearlessness also manifests in the way he courts controversies, with his actions on field and quotes off it.
Mankading is against the spirit of cricket, experts are unanimous.. Ashwin would beg to differ. When it is valid according to rule books, how can it be against anything? Fairness in the game demands that rules be equal for both batters and bowlers. A batter, he would argue, gets an unfair advantage by being out of the crease before the ball is delivered. He Mankaded Jos Buttler in an IPL match inviting wide criticism. But he would not relent on his stand on the issue.
His quote that players in the Indian team are colleagues, not friends or his cryptic remark on West Indian all-rounder Sunil Narine’s bowling action complete the profile of someone who’s not afraid to hold his own against the world.
Yes, Ashwin does not belong to the breed of cricketers who would strictly mind their own business. He is well-read, intelligent and outspoken to boot. But more than that he is a wonderful, once-in-a-generation cricketer. It’s time he received his due from Indian cricket fans.
Here’s the next delivery. It spews riddles as it escapes his hand. The batsman is perplexed. He is unsure what the ball would do after hitting the pitch. Ashwin at the other end is enjoying his predicament.
(By Arrangements With Perspective Bytes)
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