India’s premier off-spinner R Ashwin on Wednesday surprised the cricketing world by announcing his retirement with immediate effect in the middle of the Test series against Australia. (PTI)
In the grand lineage of India’s spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin would inhabit a rarified space, a space unto himself. There have been wizards and magicians, artistes and artisans, but few explored the craft with the fervour of a scientist, driven by an unflinching passion to locate its deepest meaning. So much so that it seemed Ashwin bowled not so much to pick wickets as to reach one step closer to understanding the soul of spin bowling, a dutiful pilgrimage.
The outcome of the spiritual quest was exemplary. He nabbed 537 wickets in Tests, only behind Anil Kumble as his country’s highest wicket-taker, with the most player of the series awards in Tests, with the second most five-wicket hauls in an innings. The average (24) and strike rate (50) are the finest by any Indian spinner of any era, the numbers clearly asserting that he was one of India’s greatest match-winners in the longest format. Not to discount the six hundreds and 14 half-centuries sprinkled with glorious cover drives, but Ashwin the match-winning spinner towers above the all the other accompanying faces of his.
Ravichandran Ashwin announced his international retirement in Brisbane on Wednesday. (Sportzpics)
He was arguably the most complete off-spinner India has produced, one who combined classicism with neo-classsicism, one who blended old-fashioned virtues with post-modern devilry. He stood in the past, yet leapt and embraced the future. His bowling enthralled the connoisseurs — he produced delightful drift, conjured dramatic drop and coaxed immense side-spin, but he also flicked the ball with his index finger, reverse flicked the ball too, experimented with his action and release points, bowled seam-up and the occasional leg-break. He unpeeled the different layers of spin-bowling, he dishevelled the different plans of batsmen.
He bowled to the best and removed the best — Kane Wlliamson, Joe Root and Steve Smith. He was a left-hander’s unflagging kryptonite. Among his bunnies were Ben Stokes (12), David Warner (11), Alastair Cook (9) and famously ejected Kumar Sangakkara four times in the space of 23 balls in the Sri Lankan’s farewell series.
He was a nod to every variety of the spinner India had produced. He was as classical as the fabled quartet, as studious as Anil Kumble and as sprightly as Harbhajan Singh. There was magic, artistry, grit and artisanship. But at the heart of it was a quest to find the deepest meaning and purpose of spin bowling.
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