If only things fell in place just the way one wanted to or desired or yearned for, then sports may seem can be so predictable, but that rarely happens. But then, when indeed it happens that way, imagine the resultant joy and amazement for the concerned sporting hero! And it happened just that way for Ravichandran Ashwin on that Saturday, soaking in that mild sunshine in Dharamshala as he celebrated his 100th Test appearance for India, the first man from Tamil Nadu to earn this distinction and just 14th in the country, with a five-wicket haul to send England crashing to defeat. In the process, the spin spearhead set up a whole lot of new records in the sport. This was the 36th time he had grabbed five wickets in an innings, one more than the current Indian record holder, Anil Kumble. Another interesting point was that he is now the first bowler to have picked up a fifer in both his debut and now the 100th Test!
Well, cricket is a game of statistics, so there may be more to come, but one thing that came clear and loud is that Ashwin has reached a peak of his own. No more would there be a talk on the effectiveness of this spinner or his abilities. If there is one thing he would share with his state senior and another stalwart spinner S Venkataraghavan is that both are engineering graduates, perhaps a rarity when one talks of cricket players. In a way that provides an insight into his family settings and his upbringing where sport and studies went not just side by side but with intent and purpose. In fact, Ashwin did mention at the brief speech on the eve of the Dharamshala Test when he was felicitated over his landmark achievement, how his father, a cricketer himself, would take him to the coaching venue unfailingly on his motorbike and how that made a definite impression in his mind on what his parents had as a sporting goal for him. Play cricket at the highest level, for sure!
Dedication and determination are qualities that can take one far. Ask Ashwin, if there is one thing that he thrives in the challenge and to face that requires a special mindset, which he diligently developed. As one writer put it, he watched a batsman with the same level of concentration as he would while reading a book. To that extent, he would never allow anything to go unnoticed by the batsman’s approach. The Dharamshala Test provided enough evidence. Ashwin did not need a ball that had lost shine to exhibit his craft. Even the new ball was good enough as he showed in removing the two openers, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett with a touch of cleverness that only highlighted his thinking. He is considered an offspinner, but the variety he would bring with no change of action was what made him lethal when the going was good. The carrom ball, the slider, the sharp turner, the straighter one or even a leg break, well Ashwin had all of them in his repertoire to befuddle the best of batsmen around the world. The over 500 Test wickets in his kitty is the proof of his worth!
In many ways, the emergence of white-ball cricket, the IPL and the like was God sent for Ashwin, for it was here that this lanky spinner got noticed in a big way. The entry to the national team for the traditional format contests followed, but yet, for all his calibre, this Tamil Nadu player never was sure of his berth in the playing eleven. That did not shake him for he is ever the trier, and that is what has helped him forge ahead whenever the opportunity came. There was a time when players from Tamil Nadu figuring in Tests were few and far between. A.G. Kripal Singh, for instance, was the first to go past the 10-Test mark, figuring in 14 Tests in the fifties and sixties. The first man to appear in more than 50 Tests was Venkataraghavan, who played in 57 Tests. Krishnamachari Srikkanth played in 43 Tests. Murali Vijay stretched it to 61 Tests before now Ashwin beat them all to the three-figure mark, and what is more he has shown his prowess with the bat too, with five centuries. To think that he is now in the exclusive club of 13 other Indians in the 100-Test bracket is what should make him look up with immense pride.
Running 37 years, Ashwin, on paper, may not have many more years in this form of cricket. But for one who has right from the time he made his debut (2011) known the perils of expectations and taken everything in his stride, numbers do not matter to him. It is a tribute to his skills and ability to face the odds that have helped him this far. The interest will continue to be on how many more fifers he would add to his kitty or how many more runs he may pile up. Interestingly, Ashwin is one of the only three cricketers in the world who have the double of 3000 Test runs and 500 wickets, Shane Warne (Australia) and Stuart Broad (England) being the others. For the moment, this ace bowler deserves every bit of that extra focus on him as he and his family enjoy the reflections of his big deeds.
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Ravichandran Ashwin’s proud moment in Test cricket
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1
17.03.2024
If only things fell in place just the way one wanted to or desired or yearned for, then sports may seem can be so predictable, but that rarely happens. But then, when indeed it happens that way, imagine the resultant joy and amazement for the concerned sporting hero! And it happened just that way for Ravichandran Ashwin on that Saturday, soaking in that mild sunshine in Dharamshala as he celebrated his 100th Test appearance for India, the first man from Tamil Nadu to earn this distinction and just 14th in the country, with a five-wicket haul to send England crashing to defeat. In the process, the spin spearhead set up a whole lot of new records in the sport. This was the 36th time he had grabbed five wickets in an innings, one more than the current Indian record holder, Anil Kumble. Another interesting point was that he is now the first bowler to have picked up a fifer in both his debut and now the 100th Test!
Well, cricket is a game of statistics, so there may be more to come, but one thing that came clear and loud is that Ashwin has reached a peak of his own. No more would there be a talk on the effectiveness of this spinner or his abilities. If there is one thing he would share with his state senior and another stalwart spinner S Venkataraghavan is that both are engineering graduates, perhaps a........
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