September 18, 2010. Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha), South Africa. Ravichandran Ashwin had turned 24 the previous day. It had been a great year. Having impressed as part of the Chennai Super Kings set-up in the first season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008, Ashwin had been hopeful of a big leap in 2009. But because of a clash of dates with the Indian general election, the IPL shifted to South Africa, and Ashwin ended up bowling just four overs all season.
It was a different story in 2010, as his 13 wickets from 12 games, at a stunning economy-rate of 6.10, played a crucial role in Chennai winning their first IPL title. They were in South Africa a few months later to fly the Indian flag at the Champions League T20 tournament. With wins over New Zealand’s Central Districts Stags and Sri Lanka’s Wayamba, Chennai look set for a place in the last four.
Despite defending only 162 against the Victorian Bushrangers, Suresh Raina’s three final-over wickets take the game into a Super Over. Ashwin had done his bit earlier, after Aaron Finch had got Victoria off to a flyer. The carrom ball was pitched on middle stump, and it started to move away just as Finch went for the flick through midwicket. As the leading edge lobbed towards short cover, Ashwin sprinted across like an ungainly foal to take it.
As the players gather in a huddle after Raina’s heroics, that wicket seems a long time ago. But Ashwin, the new and cocky kid on the block, is first to put his hand up to bowl the Super Over. Chennai have the legendary Muttiah Muralitharan in their ranks. Doug Bollinger, the Australian left-arm quick, is also there. As is South Africa’s Justin Kemp, who knows the venue like the back of his hand.
But once Ashwin volunteers, MS Dhoni, the captain who can do no wrong for either Chennai or India, just tosses him the ball. Minutes later, Ashwin has his head in his hands, wondering what hit him. David Hussey has taken him down to the tune of 23 runs in the Super Over. After the first big hit, Ashwin endeavours for yorkers speared in at the stumps. Each one disappears. It’s a brutal lesson for a 24 year old with ambitions of playing for India in the 50-over World Cup early the following year.
When Dhoni walks past him, there is no rebuke. Nor are there words of encouragement. He merely observes: ‘You didn’t bowl the carrom ball.’
Two days later, Chennai are back at St. George’s Park, needing to beat the Warriors, the local team, to progress. They manage just 136 with the bat. During the warm-up before the game, Stephen Fleming, the Chennai coach, had gone up to Ashwin and asked him to back himself. He had also reminded him that Chennai were at this tournament partly because of his efforts in the IPL earlier that year.
When the Warriors come out to chase 137, Bollinger takes the new ball. Who will Dhoni throw the ball to at the other end? Ashwin. The second ball he bowls is short, and Davy Jacobs – who will finish as the leading run-scorer in the tournament and earn an IPL deal with Mumbai Indians – smashes it through cover for four. Two balls later, Ashwin deceives him with an off-break that turns just a tiny fraction. As Jacobs tries to smother the spin, the ball rolls back on to the stumps. The bails stay on.
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To start his second over, Ashwin tosses one up to Ashwell Prince. He comes down the pitch and thumps the ball down to the long-off fence. The birthday week is going from bad to worse. Behind the stumps, though, Dhoni is unmoved. Ashwin is bowling round the wicket now to Prince, and the next delivery is pitched on a length. Prince, a left-hand bat with extensive experience, reckons it’s within his hitting zone. He tries to repeat the first shot. This time, the off-break turns enough to fly off the edge. Kemp at slip takes a stunning catch.
Ashwin bowls three overs on the trot for 17. Then, after two sixes from Mark Boucher, now Mumbai Indians coach, leave the Warriors needing to get 32 from the final three overs, Ashwin is thrown the ball for the 18th over. The second delivery is a carrom ball, the one he hadn’t bowled against Hussey. Justin Kreusch hasn’t a clue. He’s aiming for the arc between deep midwicket and square leg. The ball ends up in Dhoni’s gloves. The stumping is a formality.
Boucher smears the fifth ball over midwicket for four, and the stadium erupts. Win or lose, the fans know their team are in the semifinals, having nudged ahead of Victoria on net run rate. Chennai have to win. The next ball, the final one of Ashwin’s spell, Boucher eyes the midwicket boundary again. But this one has been flighted more. It’s slower, loopier. Boucher gets bat to ball, but the angles are all wrong. Again, it finds the leading edge, and Kemp is there at long-on to complete the catch.
Chennai eventually win by 10 runs, and go on to win the tournament. Ashwin finishes it as the leading wicket-taker (13). He plays the World Cup, opening the bowling in the quarterfinal against Australia, a team that hadn’t lost a knockout game in the tournament since 1996. He dismisses Shane Watson and Ricky Ponting, and though he won’t play again in the competition, his contribution to the title win isn’t forgotten.
Ashwin played for Chennai until 2015, taking 90 wickets from 97 games. Only once, in 2014, did his economy rate go over seven an over. Remember too that at the time he first made his mark, he was seen as an Indian version of Ajantha Mendis, the carrom-ball sensation who had embarrassed Indian cricket’s golden generation in his debut series in 2008. Once batters figured him out, and started lining up the big hits, Mendis had no plan B. His IPL career, which involved stints with Kolkata Knight Riders and Pune Warriors, lasted 10 games.
A decade after Mendis last featured in the league, Ashwin – just 18 months younger – continues to reinvent himself. These days, you might think he’s a left-arm spinner the way he approaches the crease. The drift is still there, as is the lovely loop and the subtle variations in the revs he puts on the ball.
But as he comes up against Chennai, the team where he made his name, and the old firm of Dhoni and Fleming, it’s impossible not to think of Gqeberha and a tournament that no longer exists. Cricket throws up so many talents each year. So few make it. The big stage breaks so many. If Ashwin is still standing, much of the credit has to go to Fleming, and to the captain who gently reminded him to bowl to his strengths.
In the unlikely event that Ashwin does get to bowl to Dhoni, we’ll just have to see what he tosses up.