India vs West Indies, 1st Test: Ravichandran Ashwin at No. 6 – Quick-fix or a long shot?

But three years later he made his Tamil Nadu debut as a specialist spinner. However, Ashwin wouldn’t forsake his first love. He would pester then coach WV Raman for batting tips. “I used to tell him son focus on your bowling, excel in what you do before moving on to another aspect of the game. I knew he could bat, he had strong basics, but I also knew we’d be a better bowler. So I didn’t want him to divide his attention to both and end failing up in both. Once I challenged him, more in jest, that I’d accept him as an all-rounder if he’d scored hundreds and took five-wickets in at least three matches. He took literally and began working earnestly. You know how it is, he is always serious and fully devoted to whatever he does when he sets his mind on it. Even then he would seriously analyse how he got out and would ask me whether he was doing something in the wrong way, like whether he was falling over too much or playing shots too far away from his body,” Raman recounts.

This hundred in Antigua must have pleased both the father and the son the most, for the background—and not the match situation per say— and could have a more far-reaching effect on his career and role. The pressure this time wasn’t radically different – he was asked to pad up as number six, a spot from where VVS Laxman had produced many of his shining gems and where, conventionally, you need a truly pedigreed batsman or a genuine all-rounder.

He was informed about it only on the morning of the match, but even if he were to be conveyed the message after the fourth wicket had fallen, he would have gleefully grabbed the opportunity. “I’ve always wanted to bat in the top seven for the Indian team, which is a long-time goal that I have to try to strive to get better at. There have been times in the past when I’ve played really well and haven’t really got the promotion. This really says a whole lot of things about me. Virat called me in the morning and said ‘you’ll be batting at six, ahead of Saha’, which is a big boost to my batting confidence. I had worked on it over the past one month in Chennai with my coach and I’m very very happy with the way it’s come out,” he said.

It was an appraisal as well as an audition. But whether he has the aptitude to fully fulfil the varying demands of a number six in a five-bowler set-up and prosper against better bowling firms and on livelier surfaces has to be seen. Ashwin, too, is not thinking too far ahead. “I’m not trying to state anything that is not obvious, but I’m just trying to enjoy myself. Give some sort of a solidity walking in at six. The team inside should feel like somebody has walked in and actually taken their time and given solidity to the team. That’s my goal more than anything else,” he specified.

What he has is an absolute belief in his batting, a technique, if not fully sound, fully functional, and an alacritous drive to work harder and weed out the chinks in his technique. “Sanjay Bangar has been working really closely with my stance for the last 12 months. I used to be extra side-on and I had to open myself a little bit. That change is very effective. I’ve not driven straight down the ground for a very long time. (So) that is a pretty evident one. The other things like my initial movement and other things had to be sorted,” he explained.

Opening up the stance gave him much more freedom to play straight down the ground, like as he had observed the cushion to play straight drive, which was just a mere push and a slight twirl of the wrists for the perfect placement. But it also makes him susceptible to the short of length or even slightly fuller balls angling into him from outside the off-stump at high speed. He gets himself into a bit of tangle, the weakness exacerbated by his front foot that’s sometimes caught leaden on the crease. Even before he changed his stance, he never used to take a big front-foot stride. And more than once, he was troubled by the pacy Shannon Gabriel, even had a catch dropped by the wicket-keeper.

Ashwin, as Ashwin he is, will work even harder to iron out these flaws. But the longevity of Ashwin’s tenure at number six will also hinge on the number of wickets he takes. Diminishing returns could see him reinstalled at seven. And Ashwin himself, as much as the team management, should take into consideration that this multi-tasking shouldn’t end up as a burden. For it’s arduous for someone to come at no 6 and then bowl 20-25 overs in the next two days. If Ashwin can eventually pull it off it would be priceless for five-bowler-theory obsessed India, but he should ensure that his bowling doesn’t flatline in the process.