The burden of being Ashwin

You are the best spinner (read R Ashwin) in the world today. That alone should be good enough to get into any other Test 11. But not India’s. The next best spinner (read Ravindra Jadeja) in the side will jump ahead in the pecking order because his batting is a shade or two better. If that’s a bitter pill to swallow, try digesting this - the second-best spinner is primarily chosen because the team management doesn’t have enough confidence in its top six batsmen. The openers have been prolific, but Nos. 3-6 have done precious little so far on this trip to England, justifying this fear. So, it’s hard to decide if Ashwin’s omission is more an indictment of Ashwin’s batting credentials or the collective ineptitude of the much-vaunted middle-order.

Post the rain-marred first Test in Nottingham against England, skipper Virat Kohli proclaimed his intention to retain the template of the team for the remainder of the series. While, oftentimes, there has been no connection between assertions before the media and the team’s actual moves, Ashwin has been in this setup long enough to sense the ominous signs for, when it comes to him, what’s said is also what’s done.

Rewind to the 2019 tour of the West Indies... In that series, you didn’t even have to be the second-best spinner in the team to pip Ashwin out of contention. Kohli left out the off-spinner, claiming Hanuma Vihari’s part-time bowling was good enough to make up for a specialist spinner in Caribbean conditions, having already talked up the Andhra batsman’s bowling the day before the first Test.

You don’t have to be a cricket statistician to know that Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, barring an odd innings or two of substance, have been struggling for a while now. Kohli, without an international century across formats since his 136 against Bangladesh in November 2019 in the pink ball Test at Eden Gardens, has been far from his best. Rishabh Pant, though a match-winner on his day, always lives on the edge of the precipice. If not for Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul India would have been struggling against this weakened English team too.

It’s this harsh reality which is forcing the think-tank to keep Ashwin out without compromising on five specialist bowlers, and including Jadeja who also provides cover for the struggling batting.

That said, it must be hard for Ashwin to accept, having done whatever has been asked of him, home or abroad, in the last nine months. He has taken an astonishing 48 wickets in his last eight Tests at a miserly average of fewer than 18 and a strike rate of 43.42. Granted, most of those wickets came during the four-Test home series against England but in the three Tests in Australia, he was one of India’s standout performers, including in the Adelaide Test where he claimed five wickets, four of them coming in Australia’s first innings on a seaming track.

He picked up as many wickets in the Melbourne Test in what was a remarkable comeback win after being shot out for the lowest innings total of 36 in Adelaide. The 34-year-old signed off the series injured with two wickets in Sydney but not before playing probably the innings of his life - mind you, he has five Test hundreds - when his unbeaten 39 off 128 balls helped India pull off a draw for the ages along with an equally stubborn Vihari (23 n.o. off 161).

There was a tangible improvement in his batting, which appeared to have deserted him for a while and brought his stakes down in the team. By his own admission, this improvement was a result of an honest three-way conversation involving him, Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri in Australia prior to the start of the Test series. Since then, he has added one more Test century, albeit at home, his first since 118 against West Indies in 2016 and his first score of fifty or more since 54 against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2017.

Even in the WTC Final, he looked one of the better Indian batsmen in the first innings during his assured 22 while dismissing both the Kiwi openers -- the only two wickets to fall in the final innings of the match -- with a near-new ball during their successful chase of 140.

In fact, in his last 12 Tests away Tests, all in the so-called SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and South Africa), Ashwin has taken 43 wickets.

Ashwin also had the best of preparations for an Indian after signing up with Surrey for a county match against Somerset at The Oval, where he plucked seven wickets, including 6/27 in the second innings. He had sent down 58 overs with less than three weeks to go for the first Test. Jadeja, however, trumped his efforts with the team packing the attack with four pacers.

The injury to Shardul Thakur, who played as a fourth seamer in the first Test, did raise hopes of Ashwin getting a crack at Lord’s, but the management has stuck to its “template” with Ishant Sharma replacing Thakur.

“I’m not able to comprehend what changed from the WTC final when Ashwin was your first-choice spinner. Suddenly, in a matter of a month, he’s not even finding a place in the XI,” VVS Laxman told ESPNCricinfo.

The former India batsman also advocated playing both the spinners while dismissing the fourth seamer as a luxury.

This is where it gets interesting. Now, if you are playing four seamers, you are not using the lone spinner as an attacking option. And when it comes to doing the holding job, few can match up to Jadeja. To that end, you may not fault the management but between the WTC Final and now, as Laxman wondered, what changed that relegated Ashwin to the benches?

Despite rain washing away the opening day of that match, the team went ahead with a two-spinner combination, claiming three pacers and two spinners was their ideal attack to claim 20 wickets in any conditions.

Ashwin was the better of the two spinners in that match, and his performance in the county game should have added weight to his claim. Also, when it comes to choosing between the fourth seamer, who often ends up being under-bowled, and Ashwin, you would rather go with the latter because you pick an attack for two innings and not just one. The Lord’s Test may just prove that. All this made for a compelling case for Ashwin’s inclusion, but Indian cricket and strange decisions have never been mutually exclusive.

Whatever be the opinion “on the outside”, as Kohli likes to put it, Ashwin’s fortunes are unlikely to change any time soon in this series. It is at once a stunning and sad story that the highest wicket-taker (413) among active spinners, in the form of his life, is so expendable because he can’t give you those extra 20-30 runs which even the three senior batsmen combined are struggling to touch.