Atreyo Mukhopadhyay in Pune
In India, the team looks up to him, especially when the chips are down. There is a reason for it. He is deadly in these conditions, as the records confirm. Cerebral and creative, he does tricks with the ball that few can. Not without a reason do they call him India’s greatest ever match-winner on home soil.
The time has come for Ravichandran Ashwin to do that once again. The team is trailing 0-1 in the three-match series. At stake are World Test Championship (WTC) points, which will determine whether India can become the only team to qualify for the final for the third consecutive time.
Going by the looks of it and the predictions, the conditions should suit his type of bowling in the second Test in Pune, starting on October 24. There have been sharp showers in the evening of late, but it has been hot and sunny during the day time. The pitch is expected to be dry and the upper crust loose. These are conditions Ashwin has revelled in like none of his peers.
Does it mean there are no apprehensions? No. Ashwin was below-par in the first Test. His economy rate was 5.87 in the first innings in Bengaluru and he took just one wicket. When the team banked on him to restrict the visitors, he failed and conceded runs in a heap. It made a big difference in the end as New Zealand took a huge lead which turned out to be decisive.
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Particularly noticeable was Ashwin’s struggles against Rachin Ravindra. The off-spinner from Tamil Nadu has tormented left-handed batters like few have in Indian conditions. He can toy with them and outwit them. There are so many examples that it’s a futile effort to dig them out. And yet, when the time came at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, the veteran fizzled out.
For good reasons, the team doesn’t mind that and takes it as an aberration. In 63 home Tests, Ashwin has 375 wickets at 21.31, with 29 five-wicket hauls. That’s a staggering record and shows why he is rated so highly. When the conditions are favourable, he is deadly. When they are not, he is still a force who can play on the minds of the opposition and induce mistakes.
In conditions likely to favour the spinners, India will look up to Ashwin to draw level in this series. There will be other spinners as well, but there is no doubt who the designated principal spinner will be. The 38-year-old is a master of mind games. As in, he thinks about what the batter is trying to think and then devises his ploy. On most occasions, he outthinks them. That’s a rare trait.
Ashwin is a classic example of how a player can evolve. When he began, he was a lot different than what he is now. That’s because he has constantly upgraded himself. Be it the degree of spin, the angles, using width of the crease and changing his lengths — there is hardly any other spinner other than Nathan Lyon of Australia, who has put in so much of thought into his game.
At the MCA Stadium in the outskirts of Pune, India will need Ashwin at his best. It has been seen in the past that he can bounce back from a disappointing outing in no time. His recovery time is less than most players. Amid talks that the surface will assist his kind of bowling, Ashwin will be one of India’s brightest hopes to draw square before the teams head for Mumbai for the last one.
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