I am generally not a parochial cricket follower. I’m not like a football fan whose happiness is linked to their team’s results.
The big events are an exception though: world cups and the Ashes and, from the late 90s onwards, Tests against India, especially in India.
I love the Australia-India rivalry; I think it is becoming one of the best in world sport. And I really want Australia to beat India in Tests in India.
This is where Ravichandran Ashwin comes in: the crusher of my hopes.
It often starts promisingly. The score reaches about 0/40, hope starts to grow. Maybe this time it will be different!
And then the coverage returns from an ad break and there he is, like a stage villain.
Ashwin: ball in hand, at the top of his mark, adjusting the field, preparing to bowl. In he comes, with that idiosyncratic twitch just before delivering.
His first few balls are innocuous. And this is hardly surprising – the Aussie spinners got nothing out of this pitch, why should India’s?
But soon enough, bang! Ashwin gets one to bite and jerk; the commentators exclaim; the crowd roars.
Everything has changed.
In the coming overs Ashwin mixes speed and bounce, spins some sharply, sends others straight through, turns his carrom ball to the off, all with relentless accuracy.
He is deadly.
0/40 becomes all out for about 95. Ashwin takes a bag, including every one of our lefthanders – of whom we seem to have about nine!
Ashwin has not been alone of course, but he has been a constant for over a decade. Across three home series against Australia – in 2013, 2017 and 2023 – he took 75 wickets at 21.2 and India won all three.
He was just as likely to cause some pain with the bat too.
Sometimes, strangely, I would forget he was still to come. We had them seven down; we were into the tail!
And then a man with the tightest hamstrings in the world would make his way gingerly to the crease.
Ahh! Ashwin again.
He batted the way lower order players with ability should – with freedom and judicious aggression. In judging his overall worth as a Test player, his batting average of 26 is significant and qualifies him as an allrounder, not just a spinner.
So where does Ashwin rate in the history of the game?
Let’s begin with this comparison:
Clearly, Ashwin is the more valuable of the two.
Who is the mystery player? None other than Shane Keith Warne.
‘But but but . . . !’ I can hear my fellow Australians exclaim. ‘You can’t be saying Ashwin is better than the King?!’
I am not making such a claim per se. I am just saying that Ashwin’s record compares favourably with a player acknowledged as one of the greatest in history.
One potential weakness that must be considered in judging Ashwin’s career is his away record.
His home bowling average was a stunning 21.6; his away average a more modest 30.6.
By way of comparison though, Nathan Lyon’s career bowling average (home and away) currently sits at 30.5 – and Lyon’s literal nickname in Australia is the Goat: the greatest of all time!
The truth is, Ashwin did quite well everywhere except Australia and South Africa. Collectively in Tests in these two countries he took 51 wickets at 44.0.
How about Warne? Well, he struggled in two places too: across India and West Indies he took 51 wickets at 42.0.
Almost identical!
Ashwin was great at home and more than decent away.
In my opinion, he is an all-time Test great.
I first watched India in 1985 and my best ever India Test side since then is clear:
- Gavaskar
- Sehwag
- Dravid
- Tendulkar
- Kohli
- Pant
- Jadeja
- Kapil Dev
- Ashwin
- Shami
- Bumrah
Omitting Dhoni and Kumble might not be popular – but that is a debate for another day!
Suffice it to say that Ravi Ashwin retires as one of the very best cricketers India has ever produced.
Maybe Australia finally has a chance to win in India now!