- Statistician Arun Gopalakrishnan takes a look at R Ashwin’s career through numbers.
- Ashwin is among the top Indian all-rounders of all time.
- He is the second best all-rounder in the world at the moment.
India find themselves in a position of strength at the end of two days of the Delhi Test, thanks mainly to two players – Ajinkya Rahane and Ravichandran Ashwin.
231 runs on the board for the loss of 7 wickets. India needed a big partnership and the duo stepped up, adding 98 crucial runs to take the Indian total closer to the 300-run mark.
Rahane reached an important milestone during the day, scoring his first Test century in home conditions, while Ashwin contributed 53 crucial runs to India’s cause.
Ashwin, The Batsman
Though he batted as low as number nine in Delhi, it isn’t a fair reflection of Ashwin’s ability with the willow. The 29-year old has two Test centuries to his credit and boasts of a batting average in excess of 31. For those who aren’t aware, the Chennai-lad started off his career as an opening batsman, before concentrating on improving his spin bowling skills.
His skills with the willow and the ball put together have even earned him the 2nd spot in the ICC’s latest Test cricket rankings for All-Rounders.
Ashwin, The All-Rounder
In recent times Ashwin’s bowling form has been top-notch and has overshadowed his useful contributions with the bat. In the previous Test series in Sri Lanka, he contributed an important 58 runs in the second innings of the deciding Test match at the SSC. India eventually went on to win that match and take the series 2-1.
More recently, in the first Test in Mohali, the spin bowler scored an important 20 in the first innings and helped India add 47 runs which turned out to be very crucial in the context of the match. Yet again today, he scored runs when the team was in a spot of bother and bailed them to safety.
The conventional definition of a good all-rounder: a player one whose batting average is higher than his bowling average over a period of time. Let’s examine how Ashwin has fared on this parameter and where he stands in comparison to a few of the prominent all-rounders who have played for India.
One look at the table and the company he keeps in it is proof that Ashwin’s numbers as a bowler are miles ahead compared to the rest and that he doesn’t fare too badly on the batting front either.
Taking the yardstick of “batting average better than bowling average” to define a quality all rounder, Ashwin is the only one that fits the bill.
That is some feat.
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