Ravichandran Ashwin is the third highest ranked Test spinner. But such is his prowess that, with the backing of the Indian team management, he has made the highest ranked Test spinner Ravindra Jadeja sit out in all four Tests of India's tour of England so far.
ICC's top ten ranking of Test bowlers is a place frequented by speedsters. Apart from Ashwin and Jadeja, Rangana Herath is the only other spinner to find a place in the list. Even Nathan Lyon finds himself at the sixteenth spot. Interestingly, Lyon is widely considered as one of the best off-spinners in the world along with Ashwin.
Former Indian spinner Dilip Doshi has an interesting take on the matter. “I would say that Lyon is better than Ashwin on good pitches. Ashwin is an extremely good bowler on bad pitches,” he opines.
So, was Southampton, the venue for the fourth Test, a good pitch or a bad pitch?
By Doshi's terminology, it was a bad pitch. That is, to put in simple terms, a raging turner. The wicket at the Ageas Bowl was a dry one, also assisted by the sun beating down. The conditions were as close to the Indian subcontinent as one would get in England.
Why then, did Ashwin fail to come into his own?
Comparison With Moeen Ali
The first day of the Test was dominated by the Indian pacers and understandably so. The seamers accounted for eight of the ten English wickets. Ashwin scalped two lower-middle order wickets of Moeen Ali and Sam Curran.
This was not a great outing by the lone Indian spinner. But considering that it came in the first essay, it by no means, could be called a bad show.
However, it was when Moeen Ali began to trouble the Indian batsmen in the first innings, an air of expectation began to creep in. If Moeen Ali, the designated ‘second spinner’ of England could take five wickets, imagine what Ravi Ashwin could do!
By the time Ashwin came out to bowl in the second innings, there was plenty of rough outside the right hander's off stump. The same rough that Moeen Ali had used to good effect in the first Indian innings.
Ashwin Should Bowl Off-Spin
Just a gentle reminder folks, it was actually three spinners who were playing this match. Nobody seems to be talking about Adil Rashid though. The leggie bowled just seven overs each in both essays and went wicketless. Given that Rashid was playing as the lead English spinner and the pitch was the same for him as well, why didn't he succeed? The reason is lack of consistency and control.
Although it is tough to accuse Ashwin of lacking control, consistency is certainly an issue. Ashwin is an off-spinner, period. His variations – carrom ball, leg spin, seam up and what not – are good to have but what has made him one of the greatest in his trade is his stock off spinners.
Ashwin tried far too many variations instead of sticking to his stock ball and trying to pitch it on the ample rough. In fact, it was the third highest time in his last 32 Tests that the spinner used so many variations.
It was also evident that when he was bowling slower through the air, the English batsmen did not look at ease. But then, they got the next delivery drifting down the leg side or a quicker one that came dead straight and the pressure went for a toss.
A pertinent point came from Shane Warne:
Not Being at His 100 Percent
It certainly did not help that Ashwin was not at his 100 percent fitness. One can argue that he bowled 37 overs, almost double of Jasprit Bumrah who bowled the second highest. He even bowled 22 overs on the trot in his third spell on day three. But bowling those overs on paper is just a part of the story.
Due to the stiffness in his hip that persisted from the third Test, the typical pivot of the torso in his delivery stride was missing. This did not allow him to put enough body behind the ball. Hence, the zip went missing.
What further crippled his effectiveness was the speed with which he was delivering the ball. As opposed to his average speed of 82kph, the 31-year-old bowled around the 90kph mark. While this may seem a good idea as the quick ball may shoot up from the rough and not give enough time to the batsmen to adjust, the fact is that the slower the ball lands in the rough, the more it aids for it to grip and turn.
Time to Experiment at The Oval
With England having already taken an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series, India may look to try some fresh personnel. Prithvi Shaw for one of the openers is a likely choice. At the same time, trying out Ravindra Jadeja for the not-so-fit Ashwin is also a tempting option.
Hindsight is the easiest path to analysis but Jadeja would certainly have been a handful in the fourth Test. The rough would have given him natural variation, with the ball coming into the left-hander and the odd one straightening.
So, will the third highest-ranked Test spinner still make the cut or is it time to try out the highest-ranked Test spinner?
(Saksham Mishra is a budding sports journalist and a student of Radio and TV journalism at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
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