Ashwin building a legacy, one step at a time
It seems like only yesterday that we saw R Ashwin become the fastest to 100 Test wickets. And here he is now, the quickest Indian to 200 as well. Getting there in just 37 Tests, he has done it quicker than anyone else in history, except Clarrie Grimmett. Just a quick thought about the names that he has gone past include the likes of Waqar Younis, Dennis Lillee and pretty much everyone else in the history of cricket. It's an imposing thought.
Ashwin wasn't someone who was cut out for an achievement, or so thought many. He isn't the kind of bowler whose talent is innately visible. But a bowler who very much grows on you gradually. His bowling doesn't make bums come to the seat and neither is he flashy like a lot of his other team-mates. Instead, he gives the impression of being the studious competitor.
In Chennai, you come across a lot of cricket fans who are happy to throw cricket numbers at your face. There is also the culture of discussing any and every match from the street next to you to Lord's threadbare. And each of them is an expert with new theories. The newer the theory, the higher you grow in the eyes of your peers. And so cricket websites are scoured religiously to find any new point of view. And through that, cricket becomes a passion. Ashwin grew up in this culture. He's often been described as a cricket-nerd, and shows competitiveness in that.
And sure enough you expect him to know the historical significance of what it means to take 200 Test wickets. Trust him to know whose record he got close to. "Maybe Clarrie Grimmett was a nicer man than I am!" he joked, when asked if he could have got it quicker. A light smile escaped his face when asked about the legacy he was building. The question posed also contained the names of the likes of Lillee.
Now for cricket nerds like Ashwin, these names would have been a part of a legend, growing up. He was still soaking in the enormity of the achievement. 200 in 37 is no mean feat. He has 133 of them at home and 67 away. Often in the past, that stat was used to pull him down but increasingly now, there is acknowledgement that this is no mean feat.
"I'm just happy trying to compete with myself. When I say that, it might sound cliched to you but I've always repeated that I constantly compete with myself. (If) you go out and try to beat records, or try to catch up with records, it's always going to teach you a lesson. That's something that Test cricket taught me pretty early in my career - that how quickly it can set you back a couple of years. I lost a good 12 to 18 months of Test cricket, and that's good enough to teach me all the lessons. It's important to try and compete with myself and try and get better every day," he said at the end of the fourth day's play on Sunday (September 25).
He's gone forth to make that come true. And it is something that he doesn't say lightly. Just earlier in the press conference he said, "I have a corn on my finger and I haven't bowled a lot in the last 25 days. I'm not very happy with the way it has come out so far. I just hope that I can do better in the series." This after picking up seven wickets in the game, including that of New Zealand captain Kane Williamson twice.
It gives a glimpse into the standards that he's setting for himself. The learning of which came after a lengthy period of being out of the team. Right now, the idea of dropping him seems unfathomable. But it wasn't long ago that he was dropped for a spate of it. At that time he was still trying to establish himself as the first spinner of choice. For a brief while, the likes of Karn Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja and others were preferred ahead of him. It's a phase that Ashwin doesn't forget easily. "That phase taught me a lot and more so, it emphasised that I should be working on my skill. And my skill has definitely been talked of ever since," he said. So much so that over the last year where he has established himself as the single-most important part of the Indian Test team. And trust him to recollect the best memories of those 200 in a flash.
"Definitely the 200th has to be the special one so far. Kane Williamson is not a bad 200th scalp! There are quite a few good wickets that I've had over a period of time. AB de Villiers in Nagpur was very well set up. Kane Williamson in this Test match in the first inning I thought was a very, very good ball. (Kumar) Sangakkara in Sri Lanka... these are some special memories that I'll always cherish in my cricketing career. I hope I can create more and more in the future."
Notice why he remembers the de Villiers wicket. He loves those planned dismissals and tries to do them as often as possible. Like against New Zealand now, where he highlighted how he worked out the left-handers. When asked why he was switching from over the wicket to round the wicket, he explains, "The way the New Zealand left-hand batsmen play is very different to the other left-handers. They don't plonk their foot across, they plonk it right down the wicket, try to play inside out a lot." A change of angle then to make them poke outside off makes sense. He got Tom Latham like that on the third morning, after a partnership on the second day, in such a manner.
He'll be reading the New Zealand batsmen more and more as the series goes on. There is every chance that at the end of these 13 Tests, the legacy that he is unwilling to talk of now, would have created itself. And you can be rest assured that he will not just be joining in discussions where cricket-nerds discuss stats or best-ever lists, but will also be gloating inside when his name features in more than a few of them
Ashwin wasn't someone who was cut out for an achievement, or so thought many. He isn't the kind of bowler whose talent is innately visible. But a bowler who very much grows on you gradually. His bowling doesn't make bums come to the seat and neither is he flashy like a lot of his other team-mates. Instead, he gives the impression of being the studious competitor.
In Chennai, you come across a lot of cricket fans who are happy to throw cricket numbers at your face. There is also the culture of discussing any and every match from the street next to you to Lord's threadbare. And each of them is an expert with new theories. The newer the theory, the higher you grow in the eyes of your peers. And so cricket websites are scoured religiously to find any new point of view. And through that, cricket becomes a passion. Ashwin grew up in this culture. He's often been described as a cricket-nerd, and shows competitiveness in that.
And sure enough you expect him to know the historical significance of what it means to take 200 Test wickets. Trust him to know whose record he got close to. "Maybe Clarrie Grimmett was a nicer man than I am!" he joked, when asked if he could have got it quicker. A light smile escaped his face when asked about the legacy he was building. The question posed also contained the names of the likes of Lillee.
Now for cricket nerds like Ashwin, these names would have been a part of a legend, growing up. He was still soaking in the enormity of the achievement. 200 in 37 is no mean feat. He has 133 of them at home and 67 away. Often in the past, that stat was used to pull him down but increasingly now, there is acknowledgement that this is no mean feat.
"I'm just happy trying to compete with myself. When I say that, it might sound cliched to you but I've always repeated that I constantly compete with myself. (If) you go out and try to beat records, or try to catch up with records, it's always going to teach you a lesson. That's something that Test cricket taught me pretty early in my career - that how quickly it can set you back a couple of years. I lost a good 12 to 18 months of Test cricket, and that's good enough to teach me all the lessons. It's important to try and compete with myself and try and get better every day," he said at the end of the fourth day's play on Sunday (September 25).
He's gone forth to make that come true. And it is something that he doesn't say lightly. Just earlier in the press conference he said, "I have a corn on my finger and I haven't bowled a lot in the last 25 days. I'm not very happy with the way it has come out so far. I just hope that I can do better in the series." This after picking up seven wickets in the game, including that of New Zealand captain Kane Williamson twice.
It gives a glimpse into the standards that he's setting for himself. The learning of which came after a lengthy period of being out of the team. Right now, the idea of dropping him seems unfathomable. But it wasn't long ago that he was dropped for a spate of it. At that time he was still trying to establish himself as the first spinner of choice. For a brief while, the likes of Karn Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja and others were preferred ahead of him. It's a phase that Ashwin doesn't forget easily. "That phase taught me a lot and more so, it emphasised that I should be working on my skill. And my skill has definitely been talked of ever since," he said. So much so that over the last year where he has established himself as the single-most important part of the Indian Test team. And trust him to recollect the best memories of those 200 in a flash.
"Definitely the 200th has to be the special one so far. Kane Williamson is not a bad 200th scalp! There are quite a few good wickets that I've had over a period of time. AB de Villiers in Nagpur was very well set up. Kane Williamson in this Test match in the first inning I thought was a very, very good ball. (Kumar) Sangakkara in Sri Lanka... these are some special memories that I'll always cherish in my cricketing career. I hope I can create more and more in the future."
Notice why he remembers the de Villiers wicket. He loves those planned dismissals and tries to do them as often as possible. Like against New Zealand now, where he highlighted how he worked out the left-handers. When asked why he was switching from over the wicket to round the wicket, he explains, "The way the New Zealand left-hand batsmen play is very different to the other left-handers. They don't plonk their foot across, they plonk it right down the wicket, try to play inside out a lot." A change of angle then to make them poke outside off makes sense. He got Tom Latham like that on the third morning, after a partnership on the second day, in such a manner.
He'll be reading the New Zealand batsmen more and more as the series goes on. There is every chance that at the end of these 13 Tests, the legacy that he is unwilling to talk of now, would have created itself. And you can be rest assured that he will not just be joining in discussions where cricket-nerds discuss stats or best-ever lists, but will also be gloating inside when his name features in more than a few of them
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