Volume 7

Back in India, in more familiar conditions,
with lack of bounce being a real factor, Ashwin
switched gears once more. With the pitches
providing the natural variation — in the second
innings of the first Test and throughout the
second — all he focused on doing was bowling
six balls to a batsman, building pressure and
plotting wickets. Ashwin used the width of the
crease to great effect, landing the ball in very
similar spots from different angles, playing with
the minds of batsmen. And, with England’s top
order not trusting their defence enough, perhaps
spooked by the puffs of dust from the surface
early on, the get-out-of-jail shot was invariably
the sweep. It did not work.
If Ashwin’s career has been marked by an
obsession with the game – and in this case, the
word comes without the baggage of the negative
connotations sometimes attached to it – it has
been kept alive by a constant quest to reinvent
himself and stay relevant. Every cricketer will
tell you that the day you stop learning, the day
you believe you have mastered the game, is
when it comes back to bite you. For Ashwin, the
learning curve has continued to trend upwards,
because he is more acutely aware of himself as a
human being and cricketer now than when he
was beginning.
Already in his mid-30s, Ashwin has started
enjoying like never before something which
is quite evident from his Youtube exploits and
the recently trending dance video with younger
compatriots. He is part of the leadership core of
the Indian cricket team and also understands
the value that his presence in the dressing room
adds to the team environment.
In the lead-up to the second Test, all Ashwin
worried about with the bat in hand was how
to counter Jack Leach, who had got him on the
forward-defensive and also on the book foot. It
is instructive that Ashwin spoke of the whole
batting unit looking to find ways to counter
Leach, not Dom Bess, who also got five wickets
in the Test. Again, Ashwin credited Rathour for
working with him on the sweep, a shot he hasn’t
played much since he was 19. When it was his
turn to bat in the second innings, Ashwin came
out sweeping. Only he used the shot tactically,
hitting hard and flat and into the ground most
times, not out of desperation. When he was
making his way through junior cricket as an
opening batsman, Ashwin liked to sweep.
Dismissed cheaply playing the shot on a couple
of occasions in quick succession, Ashwin was
dropped. He put the shot away, only to bring
it back out when the situation demanded
it. For an ambitious young boy who
grew up playing cricket in
the streets of Chennai,
to score a Test
hundred at his
theatre of dreams
was extra special.
Going by his rich exploits ever since his test
debut he is arguably the best Indian test cricketer
of this generation. Only 6 wickets shy of the 400
wickets mark and some 370 runs away from
achieving 3000 test runs Ashwin in all likelihood
is India’s greatest red ball all-rounder after Kapil
Dev. With a World Cup win under his belt, an
Champions Trophy medal and a couple of IPL
titles, Anna would be raring to go for the elusive
World Test Championship Title at Lord’s this
year!!
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