Australia's Marnus Labuschagne gets bowled out by India's Ravichandran Ashwin (right) during the second one day international cricket match between India and Australia in Indore, India. (AP) Washington Sundar’s expression at the dugout captured the moment best. Marnus Labuschagne had possibly his most embarrassing moment of his career with the bat in the middle, absolutely outwitted by a pearler from R Ashwin to lose his stumps, and was hunched on the bat in bewilderment when Sundar quickly darted a look at the television to catch a replay. That look suggested ‘what was that? What did he bowl that Marnus was cleaned up in such a spectacular fashion’.
Luckily, there was a spin-slow-mo camera that framed the release in all its glory. It was the reverse carrom that Ashwin had assiduously worked on for a couple of years after he found out that his regular carrom ball that broke the ball away from the right-handers were being played to the off with the expected turn. The right-handed batsmen just had to spot the finger-flicking release and would start shaping to angle the bat to the off. So, Ashwin had to come up with something else.
He started to change up. His carromball used to be flicked from front of the hand; now with this reverse, he started to backspin the ball, and also under cut it, sliding his finger under the seam to straighten the ball. “It’s the backflipper, which gives me the drift away from the left-hander, and into the righthander. I also underneath the seam a little bit to straighten at times,” he once told Sky Sports. Poor Labuschagne got a live demo.
Two wickets in an over for @ashwinravi99 💪💪
David Warner and Josh Inglis are given out LBW!
Live – https://t.co/OeTiga5wzy… #INDvAUS @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/z62CFHTgq1
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 24, 2023
Before we zoom into Labuschagne’s horror-stricken face, Ashwin did one another tweak: the run-up. He started a slightly angular run-up that allowed him to get into the crease with a little hop even as he started playing around with the ways he loads the ball – basically how the wrist-cocks prior to the release. Ever the wise tinkerman, the wrist-cock is mighty crucial to his bowling: he alters the loop, the extent of the turn, or its direction from the wrist-cock. “I have worked on the action, get more side-on, and mask that [wrist] well; not easy to spot,” were his words.
To be fair to Labuschagne, he didn’t look to play to the off. Was that because he had seen it wasn’t the regular away-going carrom or because he hadn’t seen the release at all? Whatever the case was, the end result was spectacular. He was pushing within the line, and the ball that drifted in a touch straightened, just as Ashwin said it would, to clatter on to the stumps. Sundar was presumably inspired by the replays.
The bigger ongoing battle around Labuschagne was Ashwin vs David Warner. Normally, the OTTs don’t really do a great job with the highlights, but this one on JioCinema has been packaged pretty neatly. Labelled ‘Ashwin outsmarts Righty Warner’, it captures all the mini-moments. How Warner switched to batting right after Pat Cummins ran on to the field with a message; how he then swept a four like a right-handed batsman triggering much laughter in the Aussie camp; and then the finishing blow from Ashwin.
This one was the regular carrom, but Warner had attempted to reverse sweep it – that is play it like a left-hander that he is after switching positions- but it spun to trap him on the pad. Curiously, Warner didn’t go for the DRS as there was an under-edge, but he was sprawled on the ground by the time he wafted his bat, and perhaps didn’t feel it. He would only consult with his partner about the lbw, and trudged back.
Few balls later came another dreamy backspinning reverse carrom to take out Josh Inglis. The drift on this is well worth a watch on loop. Again, the undercut backspinning release, and the ball curves into the right-hander from outside off to land on the middle-and-off, and then straightens. It was also pretty full, and that length beat the intended sweep to nail Inglis lbw.
Ashwin’s art isn’t static. It keeps changing colours. In Tests, he can target the batsman’s hands, their intended shots, luring them into trespassing into areas from which they can’t extricate their hands in time. The art of Ashwin lies in entangling the batsmen into meanderings from which they are unable to disengage themselves in time. With white ball, he often slips the pre-designed ball like the carrom, but with loaded variations, that even if they can see what’s happening, they can get too dazed to get out of jail in time. That a bowler who obviously thinks so much about his art is at times mocked for that thinking has obviously hurt him; and he has spoken about it.
“A lot of people marketed me and positioned me… (as) an overthinker. A person who knows that they will get only two games will be traumatised and will be overthinking because it’s my job… It (overthinker label) was created to work against me, right? And as I said, there have been statements that people have made all along when leadership is a question that’s come my way, there have been people… out there telling (that) my name is not the first name on the sheet when India tour abroad,” Ashwin said.
He admitted that being dropped frequently and the negative perceptions about him had left him “traumatised”. “I’m a lot more chilled than I used to be. A lot more relaxed than I ever have been. Sitting here today, I realise how much of a toll it had taken on me mentally, to the point where I was traumatised. But I am very glad to have come through that and discovered a new me,” he had told this newspaper.
On Sunday night against Australia, he produced one of his best ODI spells, and has presented Indian management with a thrilling selection call to make for the world cup. Would they want Ashwin or will they hope that Axar Patel gets fit and ready for his batting ability? If the pitch aids turn, then Ashwin the batsman is more than capable to turn on the heat. Axar has also shown them what was possible with his near heist against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup. What will Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid decide?
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