Opinion Unplayable at home, threatening abroad, Ashwin has to be among the greatest finger spinners the world has seen
He rivalled the exploits of Shane Warne, Anil Kumble and Muralitharan. His sudden and surprising decision to quit the game he graced is difficult to come to terms with.
Those who have watched him up close – not only seen him grow but even lent a helping hand to hone his skills -- say that Ashwin has a phenomenal appetite to learn new things. (PTI Photo) 
Ravichandran Ashwin is an exception in a cricketing world which is increasingly courting power and speed for instant gratification. Slowness and patience that spinners of the past aspired to, to become masters of their craft, are no longer virtues today. Erapalli Prasanna or Bishen Singh Bedi Bedi, legends of the cricketing world, would create a mesmerising web of deception that led even the best batsmen to their doom. These skills are considered relics of the past, when cricket as a sport is charting a new, supersonic course for itself. It’s, therefore, remarkable that Ashwin built his skill sets from the game’s foundational pillars — flight, loop, drift and control. Even a greater wonder is that not only did he succeed, he even created his own grammar that would be hard to replicate.
Those who have watched him up close – not only seen him grow but even lent a helping hand to hone his skills — say that Ashwin has a phenomenal appetite to learn new things. His father had enough resources to make a wicket for him at home where, as a child, he would bowl for endless hours. He would grow to become the “dada” of gully, domestic and later, international cricket, playing across all formats and showing the same zeal and commitment that had drawn him to the game as a child.
Like the Indian spin kings Bedi and Prasanna, he is not light in frame but Ashwin is much taller than the two masters. He borrowed the loop and drift from Prasanna. Traditionalists and those who have watched Prasanna bowl may consider it blasphemous, but it may not be wrong to say that Ashwin’s use of drift was better than the master himself.
The ball in Ashwin’s hands comes down from far greater height than Prasanna’s would. He could create a drift which would make it difficult for a batsman to read the length of the ball. His long-time mentor and coach, former left arm spinner Sunil Subramaniam, who has represented Tamil Nadu in Ranji Trophy Championship, has many insights to offer on Ashwin’s repertoire. “The ball would be released from a height of almost eight feet (Ashwin is 6’2”) performing all sorts of tricks before reaching the batsman. His sharp, thinking mind had already created an illusion of spin in the batsman’s mind. He was playing with their fears that led to their demise,” Subramaniam says.
“Illusion of spin” is an interesting term coined by former Indian Test batsman, the late M L Jaisimha while he was grooming young South Indian players in the Sixties and early Seventies. Jaisimha would say that a perfect spinner is the one who creates an illusion of spin even before he has delivered the ball. Subramaniam says Ashwin is one bowler who achieved this psychological advantage to perfection.
While Ashwin kept on working to improve his craft to counter the challenges the modern-day batters pose to off-spinners, he was helped by the emergence of the Umpires Review System (DRS). By then he had also added the carrom ball to his bag of tricks. Batsmen who would not use their feet and generally play across the line to him would become sitting ducks for an lbw to this master of drift, flight and turn.
Unplayable at home, threatening aboard, Ashwin has to be among the greatest finger spinners the world has seen. He rivalled the exploits of Shane Warne, Anil Kumble and Muttaiah Muralitharan. His sudden and surprising decision to quit the game he graced is difficult to come to terms with.
He walked out of the Indian team in the midst of a very important Test series. Navjot Singh Sidhu abandoned the Indian team on the 1996 England tour in anger. Ashwin has done the same, though he seems to have had the consent of the captain. This may have cushioned the negative impact his retirement may have caused in the media, but it can’t hide the fact that Ashwin was deeply hurt and unhappy with the way he has been treated by those who chose the playing XI.
From far away, one can only speculate what transpired Down Under. Was the last straw the decision to drop him from the playing XI for Washington Sundar from the Perth Test? For a man who kept the highest traditions of India’s rich spinning legacy burning bright against all odds, Ashwin’s manner of exit from the game makes no one proud.
Magazine is author of two books, Not Quite Cricket and, more recently, Not Just Cricket, A reporter’s journey Through Modern India.
Share
