Ravichandran Ashwin: The Method Artist

“I WAS STANDING next to the Australian dressing room at the MCG and could hear Steve Smith uttering a few expletives. It was apparent to me he was angry. He had lost his cool after getting out to Ashwin yet again and we had successfully managed to get under his skin. It was a testimony to Ashwin’s brilliance as a bowler,” said Bharat Arun, former Indian bowling coach, when referring to the 2020 Boxing Day Test Down Under.

Ask Ashwin and he will smile. In fact, he had once said to me, “Many say I am obsessed. Yes, I am. Against the batters who are the best, I do everything I can to be the best prepared. Steve Smith was one such. I tried to do all I possibly could to get into his mind and be ready for him. He was the most important wicket and we had to get him early. When you study someone as closely, you almost tend to know what he will be doing. That’s what helped to get him out.”

Needless to say, Ashwin, on the cusp of playing his 100th Test, is a special talent. But just talent doesn’t get you anywhere. Everyone who plays at the highest level possesses talent. You have to hone the talent and make it something very different. A heady cocktail that then makes for longevity, allows you to reinvent the wheel day after day and that’s what Ashwin has been able to do for a decade and more. Add to all of this the real hard yards he has put in. “My body doesn’t always help me. Unlike some others, I have to work harder on my body to keep myself game-ready. Injuries have often plagued my back and the recovery hasn’t been easy. But then the desperation to play for India is such that I can go to any extent to push my body,” he had once said to me.

Sydney 2021 is actually the best example of this. Ashwin’s body had given way and he was in excruciating pain ahead of the final day of the Test match. With India reduced to half the side because of injury and with Ravindra Jadeja finding it very hard with a broken finger, Ashwin knew he would be needed with the bat if India had to save the game. “I just couldn’t get up from the bed. The pain was such that even turning was an ordeal. I was crying out in pain when my wife called the hotel housekeeping staff to literally help lift me and put me in the bathtub. The idea was to splash hot water on my back to see if it got a little better. In fact, she was the one who helped me change and, somehow, I managed to get to the ground. Not once did I sit because I knew if I sat down, I wouldn’t be able to stand up and walk. And when I went out to bat, I told [Hanuma] Vihari that I wasn’t in a position to bend down, but neither of us will lose our wicket come what may,” Ashwin had said while looking back at the Australia series.

This is the kind of fight you look for in a player. The obsession for excellence is what defines his craft. Not every day will he get a five-for. In fact, on most days he wouldn’t. That’s how sport is and will always be. But that doesn’t stop Ashwin from pushing harder each day. With him, it is all effort. Intensity and commitment rolled into one. The process and the preparation are what he controls, and there the effort is maximum. That’s what explains the 500 wickets in record time and now the peak of 100 Test matches.

Add the runs and the hundreds he has scored to the 500 wickets and you will understand the enormity of his achievement. And yet, we don’t celebrate Ashwin enough. Is he as revered as some of our batting greats? Do we really do what we need to for him? Can we redeem ourselves as he gets ready to step out in Dharamshala?

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It wouldn’t be wrong to say Ashwin is one of the greatest matchwinners India has produced. Add the runs and the hundreds he has scored to the 500 wickets and you will understand the enormity of his achievement. And yet, we don’t celebrate Ashwin enough. Is he as revered as some of our batting greats? Do we really do what we need to for him? Can we redeem ourselves as he gets ready to step out in Dharamshala?

In Rajkot, Ashwin had to leave the Test midway to attend a family emergency. His mother was in the hospital and he had to be with her at the time. But then much to everyone’s surprise, he returned the very next day to do the job for India. Not that it is any index of patriotism. Had he not come back a day later to bowl for India, he would not be any less a patriot. But the point here is about his passion for the sport even after picking 500 wickets. After having achieved almost everything that there is to achieve, Ashwin remains the same. “I can die on the cricket field. It is like a temple and I can do anything to be out there for India,” he had once said. That’s what it is all about. An obsessive urge to pursue excellence. Never stop short of putting in your best and never try the shortcut. If anything, Ashwin always tries too hard. Maybe, he needs to relax a little at times for his own sake. But then it wouldn’t be Ashwin. It is just not him to let things be when on a cricket field. Even if it is a game on his terrace, he will be as competitive as when bowling to Ben Stokes. It comes naturally to him and is part of the Ashwin narrative.

When we think that we have left out such a competitor in key Test matches, we tend to feel we could have done better. Ashwin against Australia at the WTC final at the Oval in June 2023 could have been key for India. Against a team with five or six left-handers, he would always be in contention. Moreover, he would never let the game drift by conceding easy runs. That’s where he deserved better but then again, he is past all of this now. You ask him and all you will get is a warm smile. Perhaps, he will yet again say that all you need to do is control the controllables. Keep focusing on the opportunities you get and keep making a difference to the team. Stay in the present and be grateful for what you have got. His 5-51 set up the match in Ranchi. The 35th five-for in a stellar career. But the good thing is he isn’t done yet, and can surely serve Indian cricket for at least a couple more years.

Finally, when we celebrate Ashwin’s 100th Test match, it is also an occasion to celebrate the family. It is for his father that he started playing the sport and it is his father who taught him the early codes of sportsmanship. His wife has been a pillar of support. Even during Covid, she shouldered responsibility when things were dire for the family. It is as much their achievement as his, for there is no Ashwin story without the team around him. While they won’t come out in the media and make statements, it isn’t in their nature. The fact that India hasn’t lost a Test series at home since 2013 is largely due to the presence of Ashwin and on the occasion of his 100th, that’s what we celebrate.

About The Author

Boria Majumdar

Boria Majumdar is a sport journalist and the author of, among other titles, Eleven Gods and a Billion Indians. He is a contributor to Open

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