How R Ashwin rose to lead the wicket charts in first two Tests in Australia

R Ashwin is the fastest bowler ever to reach 350 Test wickets. No bowler has dismissed more left-handers in the five-day game than the off-spinning engineer from Chennai. He has slipped into his 10th year in Test cricket and is on his fourth full tour of Australia. He has been on two Test tours apiece to England, South Africa and New Zealand, alongside Australia the toughest challenges for a finger-spinner.

Yet remarkably, it’s only now that Ashwin has taken 10 or more wickets in the first two Tests of a series in any of these nations.

Much as you can’t argue with facts, there are multiple reasons for this anomaly. For one, Ashwin hasn’t always played in the first Test on these overseas tours. For another, he has been used in containing roles even on wearing day-five pitches, like in Johannesburg in December 2013 or in Adelaide five years later. More than once in the last couple of years, he has sustained internal injuries after a promising beginning, frustratingly forced to watch from the sidelines, even in the sole format that he’s required for currently at the international level.

Ashwin is no longer the automatic No. 1 spinner when India play away from home. Head Coach Ravi Shastri proclaimed at the end of the last tour of Australia, in January 2019, that Kuldeep Yadav, who took five wickets in the final Test in Sydney, had laid claim to that status. Intriguingly, the left-arm wrist-spinner hasn’t played a single Test since, leaving Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja caught in a game of musical chairs with the balance tilting towards added strings in the left-arm spinner’s bow – electric fielding and effervescent batting.

Despite his exploits for the Delhi Capitals in IPL 2020, Ashwin would most likely have not featured in the Adelaide Test last month had Jadeja not picked up a hamstring injury to go with a concussion in the first T20I in Canberra. Once he was tossed the ball by Virat Kohli, Ashwin of a vintage not always seen outside the subcontinent and the Caribbean made a spectacular appearance.

His rhythm was outstanding, his control impeccable. He asked tough questions of Australia’s indecisive batsmen, who seldom had the answers. His first-innings dismissal of the prolific Steve Smith, with a straighter one that hastened off the pitch and took the outside edge on its way to slip, was the classic off-spinner’s natural variation, not the funky carrom ball or the more occasional leg-break he has incorporated into his bowling.

From that dismissal, and the events leading up to it, emerge the clearest clues to Ashwin’s effectiveness in this series – 10 wickets at a measly 17.7, a wicket every 51.1 deliveries, a staggering economy of 2.08. The joint leading wicket-taker alongside Pat Cummins, his stranglehold has allowed the pace battery to attack relentlessly, culminating in Australia’s tallies of 191, 195 and 200 in three completed innings.

So, what’s Ashwin done differently over the last fortnight to stack up these numbers? For starters, he has altered his line. In the past, he has bowled stump-to-stump, sometimes drifting on to the pads of the right-handers and allowing them the luxury of milking him for singles. This time, his predilection for an outside-off channel has been obvious. Because he gives the ball a serious rip and has got it to turn in regularly, batsmen are unsure if they can afford to leave balls outside the off-stump with any certainty.

Then, he has shown greater confidence in his stock delivery, the off-break. One of the pitfalls of developing numerous variations like the thinking Ashwin has is the propensity to unleash them in the desperation for wickets. In this series, Ashwin hasn’t gone looking for wickets; he has stuck to his core weapon, the off-break, bowling it slower and using his height and high-arm action to feed off the bounce available in Australia. It has helped too that he seems at peace, not looking to make points.

The ball’s coming out of his hand beautifully, experts have pointed out. “It’s not something that can be satisfactorily explained in words,” admits L Sivaramakrishnan, the former India leggie. “It’s a feeling, it’s a sensation. You release the ball at the right time, at the right pace, with the optimal tweak. The moment it leaves your hand, you know something special is going to happen, like I did when I had Javed Miandad stumped in the World Championship of Cricket final in 1985. Ashwin has become so consistent now that he is able to deliver such balls almost as a matter of routine.”

For an Indian side minus their three senior-most pacers – Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav – that’s music to the ears. With everything to play for in this series, the onus will continue to be on Ashwin to influence the effectiveness of Jasprit Bumrah and company.

(R Kaushik is a Bangalore-based cricket writer with nearly three decades of experience)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author’s own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.