Thursday 10 December 2015

Ashwin in prime position to finish on top

The ace off-spinner, with 62 wickets over nine Tests in 2015, is 11 scalps ahead of Stuart Broad

Ravichandran Ashwin has been in full flow in recent times. No wonder India won two series of much significance because of his intelligent and consistent display of off-break bowling. He has ruled the roost with the stock ball (ball turning from off to leg) and the South African batsmen fell to his tricks hook, line and sinker.
There was something to cherish for the purists too. Ashwin demonstrated in ample measure the art of flight and spin with accuracy and variations, from close to the return-crease bowling round the wicket, and more pointedly the ways to exploit pitches that showed bias to slow spin. For the first time in a home series, the discerning saw him bowl “differently” and in the true mould of a classical off-spinner.
Three months ago he caused the downfall of 21 Sri Lankan batsmen and paved the way for an Indian series win in the island after 22 years. Last Monday, his 31 wickets ended the Rainbow Nation’s unconquered overseas record for nine years. The 3-0 win, against the top-ranked country, propelled India to the second position in the ICC’s Test match rankings.
Top of the charts
Thanks to his exploits, Ashwin has displaced Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan from the top of the Test all-rounders’ ranking and is second behind South African fast bowler Dale Steyn in the bowlers’ list. With India not likely to play a Test series for many months, Ashwin may lose the second position to either England’s Stuart Broad or Jimmy Anderson, who may grab valuable points in the four-Test series in South Africa.
But a thick Future Tours Programme by March 2017, featuring home Tests against Bangladesh (1), New Zealand (3), England (5) and Australia (4) and away against Zimbabwe (1) and West Indies (4), will enable the conventional finger spinner to raise the performance bar.
With 62 wickets in nine Tests, Ashwin is now the highest wicket-taker for the calendar year 2015 and barring the unforeseen, he should become the second Indian in 11 years to take the honours that every bowler dreams of. The second-placed Broad (51 from 13 Tests) has the Boxing Day Test match against South Africa at Kingsmead.
The other top performers are Pakistan’s leg-spinner Yasir Shah (49 from seven Tests), Anderson (46/11), Australia’s left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc (46/11) and right-arm seamer Josh Hazlewood (44/11) and Sri Lanka’s right-arm seamer Dhammika Prasad (41/9 Tests). However, both Starc and Prasad are down with injuries and Hazlewood has two Tests against the West Indies to better the Indian.
Ashwin, in a little over four years of Test cricket, has 126 wickets in 19 home Tests against 50 in 13 away matches. It’s an oddity that he would like to mend.
There may have been occasions when the team management took the ‘wrong’ decision to drop him. When he was not picked for eight Test matches since he made his debut, India’s winning percentage dropped to 12.50 (1 win, 5 losses and 2 draws), whereas it has won 16 Test matches of the 32 he has played.
He will never get encouragement from pitches in Australia, England, South Africa and New Zealand, in much as he would get in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. But for someone who seeks more knowledge about the trade he plies and the game itself, Ashwin is likely to fetch more wickets on his next overseas tour. He has played six Tests (21 wickets) in Australia, three (21) in Sri Lanka, two (3) in England and one each in South Africa (0) and Bangladesh (5).
Interestingly it’s the Ashwin-Ishant Sharma combination that has delivered a high of 173 wickets (40 innings) at 30.92; with left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha it’s 148 wickets (26 innings), 133 with Umesh Yadav in 30 innings and 114 with Ravindra Jadeja over 18 innings.

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