Eccentric genius reaches another milestone

Here’s the thing, hate him for who he is, or love him for what he does, it hardly matters because Ashwin will go down as the greatest off-spinner India has ever produced, at least statistically.

Rajkot: R Ashwin is pedantic, cranky, self-obsessed and too smart for his own good. 

R Ashwin is a craftsman, a scientist, an intellectual, an eccentric genius and pretty brilliant as a cricketer.  

It’s hard to split open these two contrasting personalities and perspectives because would Ashwin be Ashwin if he had only one side to him? No.

Here’s the thing, hate him for who he is, or love him for what he does, it hardly matters because he will go down as the greatest off-spinner India has ever produced, at least statistically. 

That argument was a moot point once he overtook Harbhajan Singh’s Test tally of 417 from 103 Tests, but upon reaching 500 wickets from 98 Tests during the third Test in Rajkot, he has given people more reason to feel as if he belongs among the all-time best spinners, if he didn’t already.   

He won’t help his case by going on social media and arguing for the sake of it in time to come, that’s the little demon in him he can’t quite get under control even at 37, but that very same ego is why he plays as if his neck is on the line every time he plays. 

"I think that would be very, very difficult for most people, but not for him,” Graeme Swann, former English spinner, told DH. 

“His character doesn’t allow him to stop, he has to do that. He is a student of the game. He openly professes himself as sort of a professor of spin bowling, and I think that is his strength. He just needs to do this, he can’t help it. He has to redevelop, relearn, try new things, and stay on top of his game. 

“Other people find strength in doing exactly what they’re doing for a very long time, they are dogmatic and single-minded, but that wouldn't suit Ashwin at all. So, the fact that he's able to continually tinker and adjust, but stay at a world-class level, that's impressive.”

Ashwin may insist he is more at peace with himself over the last five years and isn’t so bothered about numbers or validation. It doesn’t come across though, not even if he tries to mask it with this spiel about wanting to be a better spinner until the last day he plays.

There is some truth to that because he started his international career late (25) and had to traverse his way across myriad people, strange team cultures and other larger-than-life personalities. Off-spin, however, wasn’t something he had to try too hard to decipher. He did tinker aplenty, but that was only after he figured out his ‘stock’. 

Early in his career, he had to pick up on the nuance of his craft, get better at controlling his urge to go in an alternative direction without spending enough time perfecting this alternative route and listen to others without interjection or intellectualisation.

He figured it out along the way and looks like a finished product now (he won’t agree), but he still doesn’t get the credit he deserves, not even when he has picked up over five wickets a Test match for the last 12 years.

It’s not likely that Ashwin will reach the numbers Anil Kumble, the only Indian spinner ahead of him on the highest wicket-takers list on 619, did in his 132-Test career, and it’s not likely that he will be as beloved as the former Indian leg-spinner either. 

If Ashwin is to be believed, however, it won’t matter. Wonder what the other side of him is saying though?