India vs South Africa 2021-22: Ravichandran Ashwin Grit And Guile Earned Aussie Respect, SA’s Turn Now

South African batters, playing on home pitches, have faced extremely competitive and competent Indian bowlers in the past. Kapil Dev and Anil Kumble to name a couple left the local batters rattled, with control over the craft and ability to make things happen off the pitch. Ravichandran Ashwin is the latest Indian missile waiting to be unleashed on South Africa in the Test series starting December 26. Armed with 427 Test wickets, only Kapil (434), Kumble (619) among Indians are ahead of him in the elite wicket-takers’ list.

The South Africans knew what to expect when Kapil sashayed to the bowling crease with that rhythmic run-up, command over swing and cut as the ball did his bidding. Batters struggled to read him in the air and off the pitch. Kumble’s intensity in the act of bowling stood out, working on the batter’s mind each delivery, almost expecting a wicket every ball. Batters got no respite facing this tall hustler, little time to plan, as deliveries on a tight length or startling bounce unsettled the best.
Ashwin is a mix of both, crafty like Kapil the maestro and competitive like Kumble. No comparison between these three match-winners from different eras, the last two led India with distinction. The common factor among these three bowlers is the intent to dominate batters, session by session in a Test match, so that resistance is broken down and team goals achieved. Kapil’s last Test match was in 1994, Kumble troubled batters till 2008, the baton is now with Ashwin, in a class of his own, yet asked to prove his worth over and over again.
He adjusts to different formats, and took part in the recent T20 World Cup. Test cricket suits him best, ups and downs over five days on different tracks and varied conditions don’t matter, he delivers. With his tail up after bagging the Player of Series honour over two five-day games against New Zealand, Ashwin is in that mean mood with the ball in hand. The offspinner is the most experienced bowler on the tour to South Africa (81 Tests and 111 ODI appearances), the spinner armed with skills to make the most impact in both squads.
The competitive streak extends to the combative Indian’s body language as well. Former Australian captain Tim Paine, now in deep freeze following an off-the-field controversy, will never ever forget the outcome of engaging Ashwin in a duel with words on the final day of the Sydney Test. With constant chatter from behind the sticks, the wicketkeeper attempted to disturb the Indian’s concentration. The audio exchange at the crease was picked up by the stump mike, the intensity was visible in the words flying back and forth.

India drew the Sydney Test, 1-1 at that point, went on to clinch the series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as Ashwin had the last laugh.

The Australia captain had clearly chosen the wrong player to wind up, as Ashwin’s timely replies to Paine’s questions revealed. The exchange of words on the pitch between two hard-nosed pros rose to such a level that the batter refused to take strike till the chatter stopped. The wicketkeeper lost focus in the heated exchange, dropped a catch off Mitchell Starc, Ashwin escaped and so did India.

The grit on display at the crease, in the company of Hanuma Vihari during the Sydney game against Australia, was in keeping with status as a dependable batter in a crisis. India can always count on Ashwin for wickets, the breakthroughs especially, removing frontline batters, Steve Smith for example, who can dictate the course of a match, became his bunny. Home games against England or New Zealand, or an away series in any corner of the world is all part of a hard day’s work for him.

The South Africans would have watched that thrilling series Down Under, along with the rest of the cricketing world and marvelled at India’s fightback. The challenging conditions brought out the best in the visitors, almost everyone given an opportunity grabbed it, including Ashwin. India’s next overseas tour was England and he was not selected in the playing squad for three Tests, left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja and four pace bowlers were chosen. England are down

1-2 and the postponed fourth Test remains to be played.

The wickets in South Africa are expected to be pacy for three Test matches at the Centurion, the Wanderers and Newlands respectively. Ashwin as the wicket-taking bowler is expected to be a lethal element of the Indian attack, boosting the efforts of pacers. Six fast bowlers in the touring party (Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur) have different roles and will be fighting for berths in the playing squad. The range of talents visible in the visitors’ fast bowling pack has left watchers of Indian cricket surprised and impressed.

Flipping back the pages of history, apart from Kapil’s knack of making an impact, lanky Javagal Srinath served notice of the pace he could generate off a silken run-up on tracks made for the likes of Allan Donald to hurry batters into mistakes. It is also difficult to forget the Durban memory of a brute, short-pitched delivery from S Sreesanth making Jacques Kallis hop at the crease. The ball flying off the glove to the close-in fielder. The best delivery of India’s 2010 tour reared up and came at the batter after pitching. The legendary allrounder reacted in reflex action, caught between evading and blocking.

Injuries to Hardik Pandya and Jadeja leaves the bowling allrounder slot open. The offspinner has filled that role before, as confidence with the ball rubbing off on his batting. He battled back pain to play a defiant 39 off 128 against Australia at SCG on the fourth day. Banking on compact defence to block the ball and blocking out noises from the close-in cordon. The vigil at the crease by India’s number seven batter was worth more for the time consumed than runs scored. Five tons and 11 fifties over 81 Tests (till the home series against NZ) is no fluke. Batting has never been stress-free for Ashwin, either playing a match-saving innings or accumulating runs during a run chase in tailenders’ company.

India needs the attacking bowler in him more, able to make an impact even with the new ball against opening batters suspect against the turn. Ashwin’s probing approach from the bowling crease is like a game of chess vs batters – over the wicket, round the wicket and different points of release in one over, change in the line makes it difficult for opponents to formulate a plan. For strange reasons, earning the confidence of captains was a harder task for him.

After every match-winning show, he is on a test, as if the entrance exam goes on for this 35-year-old with a high cricketing IQ.

Ashwin at times goes out of syllabus, as in the Kanpur Test against the Kiwis when he made headlines for a warning from umpire Nitin Menon. True to his nature in trying everything to pose awkward questions to the batters, the offspinner blocked the match official’s view in his follow-through across the stumps. The Indian was trying to vary his point of release, in doing so became an object of curiosity for the game’s rule-makers.

For the numerous times he made cricket connoisseurs take notice of a special talent, apart from making opponents extremely wary of new tricks up his sleeve, it is time to give Ravichandran Ashwin a bit of security about his place in the squad, so that he can go hunting for wickets in South Africa, armed with a sharp eye for spotting chinks in the batter’s defence. The spinner can twist the knife in using stealth, even as fellow pace bowlers do their wrecking-ball act.