India’s premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin walked into the record books yet again after he became the fastest bowler to pick up 250 wickets in the five-day format, during the only Test against Bangladesh at Hyderabad.
As he beat the likes of Dennis Lillee and Dale Steyn to the record, the talk of Ashwin being on his way to greatness surfaced again.
Yes, he has taken 138 wickets in his last 22 matches. Yes, he has helped India win six consecutive Test series, but should we forget about the fact that his bowling average in Australia is 54.71 and in England he averages 33.66 at the moment, while his career average is 25.04.
And to add to that, Ashwin has played only one Test in South Africa (no wickets) and has not played a single Test match in New Zealand.
The 30-year-old has proved himself to be a champion bowler on spin-friendly tracks that are provided in the sub-continent, but to be even remotely be on the way to greatness, Ashwin will need to find a way to be effective on foreign soil.
Not Being Trusted Overseas
The Chennai lad has not received a great amount of trust from the team management when India travel abroad.
Ashwin has excelled in spin-friendly conditions in Sri Lanka and against lower ranked Test teams such as the West Indies, but he hasn’t managed to play an entire tour of England, Australia, New Zealand or South Africa so far in his career.
He either got picked in the eleven later in the tour or got dropped from the side midway through the tour.
Even after picking a whopping 31 wickets in the four-match Test series against South Africa in 2015, Ashwin was dropped from the side after the second ODI in the five-match series in Australia in the following year. He ended up with figures of 2/68 and 0/60 in two matches.
In his career, Ashwin has played six matches in Australia, two matches in England and one match in South Africa. Ravindra Jadeja was the preferred spinner on these tours.
He has taken 24 wickets in nine Test matches in Australia, England and South Africa.
Ashwin will have to find a way to get into the eleven first, before making his way to a legendary status.
In Comparison With Other Indian Spin Greats
Most of the cricketers in the world traditionally perform better in their home conditions and it held true for Indian spin greats such as Harbhajan Singh, Vinoo Mankad and S Venkataraghavan as well.
But the interesting aspect is that, while these three bowlers took around 60 percent of wickets at home and 40 percent away, Ashwin took 73.2 percent of his wickets at home.
Arguably India’s greatest spin bowler, Anil Kumble, picked up 141 wickets in the 35 matches played in Australia, England, South Africa and New Zealand.
Harbhajan Singh excelled in seaming conditions like those in New Zealand and South Africa as well. The Punjab lad recorded a bowling average of 24.19 in New Zealand and picked up 18 wickets in four Tests in South Africa.
The Fastest to 250 Wickets ‘Gang’
Even in the the fastest to 250 wickets list, except for Ashwin and Lillee, all the other bowlers have a good division of wickets at home and away.
Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan has in fact taken more wickets away than at home.
When India start travelling abroad from this year, the off-spinner will have to come up with the goods, if he wants to be remembered as a legend of the game.
(Statistics by Arun Gopalakrishnan)
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