India in Sri Lanka: Ashwin's brilliance overcomes flaws in India's bowling attack

Had there been a soothsayer foretelling the magic spell, spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was to churn out on this occasion, India captain Virat Kohli could have picked three bowlers instead of five. Except for Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal, Sri Lanka’s batsmen were woeful on the first day of the first Test at the Galle international stadium as they turned out to be mere cannon fodder to the visiting bowlers. The batsmen from the island lacked both technique and temperament on a pitch that offered some pace, bounce and turn. And even Chandimal should have been out for five but Wriddhiman Saha dropped an absolute sitter behind the stumps. But despite bowling out Sri Lanka for 183, India’s bowling attack was a mixed bunch. This wasn’t a set of bowling hunting in a pack. This was mostly a one man demolition job – that man being Ashwin, who took 6 for 46, the best figures by an India spinner in Sri Lanka – with occasional support from the rest. [caption id=“attachment_2390082” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Harbhajan Singh, left, congratulates Ravichandran Ashwin on his five-for. AP[/caption] Ishant Sharma was steady and yes, a little unlucky. Varun Aaron was frustratingly wayward, while Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra were largely ineffective. Mishra did take two wickets in two balls at the tail end of Sri Lanka’s innings, but one came courtesy a wild slog from Chandimal. He was not as threatening as his figures suggest. The biggest contrast was between the two offspinners – the new king and the old fox. Once it was clear the ball was turning even on day one, Ashwin was quick to toss the ball up and give it a rip. His stock ball was the offbreak and he used it to primarily attack offstump to both lefthanders and righthanders. When Kumara Sangarakka and Lahiru Thirimanne were batting, Ashwin wasted no time switching to bowling around-the-wicket. He got the ball to drift in with the angle and then go away off the pitch. His first three wickets were all lefties and they were caught at silly point, slip and short leg. The best of the lot was the ball that got Thirimanne. It drifted in, drew him forward and then spun across the bat and took the edge on its way to slip. After lunch, with Sri Lanka 65 for 5, Kohli tossed the ball to Harbhajan. It should have been the ideal time for Harbhajan to come on. The opposition was wobbling and the pitch was helping. Maybe it was nerves but Harbhajan bowled flat, quick and at middle and leg stump. On too many occasions, his offbreak turned past legstump and went harmlessly through to the keeper. To be fair, Harbhajan was bowling to two righthanders but it was still confusing given the example that Ashwin has already set. Harbhajan’s lack of penetration helped Mathews and Chandimal partially dig Sri Lanka out of their hole, and it took the return of Ashwin to break the partnership, which he duly did by beating Mathews in flight as the batsman skipped down the track, with Rohit Sharma taking a stunner at short leg. One wicket quickly became two as Ashwin snapped up Dhamika Prasad in his next over to give Ashwin just his second five-wicket haul away from home. Ishant Sharma, who doesn’t consider himself a strike-bowler, got a lucky wicket when a sharp bouncer struck Kaushal Silva on the arm guard and looped behind the keeper to be caught by Shikhar Dhawan. As if the universe could not abide Ishant’s good fortune, Saha then dropped the easiest catch a keeper could hope to get off his bowling. The scales had been leveled. Aaron got carted around at over six runs an over - Chandimal spanked him to the boundary four times in one over - as he served up a series of long hops. His 11 overs did nothing to dispel MS Dhoni’s criticism that there’s no point playing fast bowlers who can’t bowl with any discipline. As for Mishra, he got plenty of turn but it was slow turn, allowing the batsmen to play him with little trouble. Over the last year or so, Ashwin has abandoned the idea of variation as a difference in kind and focused on variation as a difference in degree. Slow and quick, loopy and flat, slow and fast. Today, he executed those variations brilliantly and was duly rewarded, albeit with a little help from the Sri Lankan batsmen. In doing so, he also papered over the flaws in the rest of the attack. It was Ashwin’s day in Galle, not India’s.