India vs England: Ravichandran Ashwin showed signs of evolution in off-spin masterclass on Day 1 of Edgbaston Test

Ravichandran Ashwin’s selection in the Indian playing eleven was a foregone as soon as England announced a team packed with as many as seven left hand batsmen — Alistair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes, Sam Curran, James Anderson and Stuart Broad. Few bowlers relish the prospect of bowling to left handers, basically because they are not comfortable making the required adjustments in length, line and even bowling from around the wicket. Yet there are others, like Ishant Sharma in the present team, who can be a handful for left handers. Sharma, when he bowls from around the wicket, can angle the ball into the body or occasionally take it away towards slip. This makes him a disconcerting fast bowler for left-hand batsmen, especially when they struggle to grasp the angles at which he comes at them. [caption id=“attachment_4877261” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Ravichandran Ashwin’s spell helped India to assume a position of promise at the end of Day 1 at Edgbaston. AP[/caption] Ashwin, although a spinner, is also that sort of bowler.  His understanding of angles and the ability to execute plans is exemplary. On Wednesday, at Edgbaston, he cramped England’s many left-hand batsmen by bowling around the wicket and into their pads. They struggled to score runs off him, despite the first-day pitch not being conducive to spin bowling and hence the move to include Ashwin in the side worked in India’s favour. Occasionally, when Ashwin managed to get the ball to break away, he caused confusion in the opposition ranks.  The best of these efforts was that peach of a delivery that bamboozled and clean bowled England’s former skipper and veteran opening batsman Alistair Cook. Skipper Virat Kohli, realising that there was some dampness in the pitch that could enable Ashwin’s off spin deliveries to grip and turn, brought him on to bowl in only the seventh over of the match. The tall, right-arm off-spinner struck in his second over when he got the ball to drift towards the leg stump and then break away to elude left handed Cook’s defensive blade and smash into the stumps. That death rattle did a lot more than just fetch India a wicket. It boosted Ashwin’s confidence sky high and encouraged him to experiment with a terrific repertoire of deliveries. Simultaneously, England’s batsmen also became wary of the bowler’s skill and variations and sometimes countered them with timid half-hearted pushes. One such push to a relatively short-pitched delivery accounted for Ben Stokes. He pushed hesitantly to be caught and bowled. It was obvious from his day’s performance that Ashwin has come a long way as a bowler. For one he was getting the ball to drift, something not usually associated with his bowling. On a couple of occasions it looked like he was bowling outswingers to the right hand batsmen; so pronounced was the drift! Ashwin’s carom ball was used sparingly and often for shock effect. It skidded into the batsmen all too quickly and caught them napping. Stuart Broad was trapped in front off one such delivery. All in all there was plenty to cheer about Ashwin’s performance on the day. It is not often that an off-spinner would make such a huge dent on the opening day of a Test in England. But Ashwin’s haul of 4 for 60 from 25 overs did just that. It left England reeling at a not too comfortable first day score of 285 for 9.  If anything Ashwin exposed their discomfort to classical off-spin bowling in their own backyard. His stint in English county cricket has taught Ashwin a thing or two about bowling with the Duke cricket ball and working the drift to work in his favour. Earlier, non-English off spin bowlers would try and counter the drift or fight to neutralise its effect. But Ashwin showed that he had learnt to work with it. It was not just the drift. He confidently experimented with varying speeds, line and length. Then there was the carom ball. The slow-motion cameras captured him imparting a certain amount of back spin on the ball with the thumb and second finger. He certainly would have spent hundreds of hours in the nets getting that delivery right and it showed in the stand-out performance on the day. It is obvious that the 31-year-old off-spinner has a major role to play in England this summer.  He seems to have fine-tuned his bowling to suit English conditions too and could well be a handful for the Englishmen. Spinners, they say, mature with age and experience. Ashwin, with 316 wickets from 58 Tests,  is at the pinnacle of his profession. He has experience, success and a keen intellect to learn and implement the tricks of the trade. He came into international cricket on the strength of his excellent IPL showing. Later he became an unplayable terror on Indian pitches but one not so successful overseas. Early indications are that he could just change that perception on this tour. Why, this England Test series could be the unveiling of Ashwin version 3.1.