Ashwin and Chahal, Royals’ new spinning heartbeat

One masterfully sets up batters, other takes them down as was evident in Tuesday’s 61-run win.

Rajasthan Royals landing Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal for just ₹11.5 crore this year was possibly the greatest heist in the IPL auction. But it still was an untested combination in franchise cricket. Trying to pair Chahal’s leg-spin with Ashwin’s off-break for the first time in international cricket hadn’t yielded the desired results in South Africa. But this is T20, and we are talking about a combined experience of 492 T20s and 514 wickets. Little could go wrong.

Yuzvendra Chahal celebrating a wicket during the game against SRH in IPL 2022. (IPL)

Spinners, very early trends indicate, are once again set to be economical in this IPL. At least the averages of Varun Chakaravarthy (5.75), Ravindra Jadeja (6.25), Kuldeep Yadav (4.5), Murugan Ashwin (3.5), Rahul Chahar (5.5) and Krunal Pandya (4.25) suggest so. But two spinners of Ashwin and Chahal’s experience bowling in tandem? It can be a concoction of discipline and just the right dose of entrapment sustained by a host of factors. The seam must land right, there must be huge revs, the ball must also undercut while gripping, dipping and skidding. Everything from use of crease to height and angle of release comes into play when spinners bowl but probably much more in the case of Ashwin and Chahal.

Like with any pair of spinners, one has to be the enforcer. Ashwin—by virtue of the Test lengths he hits—seems to be natural choice here, as was evident from Royals’ bowling plans; Chahal bowling the 9th, 11th, 13th and 16th overs and Ashwin laying the trap in the preceding ones. It’s a dream combination of genius and a brain working in overdrive. And it left a mark in each of Chahal’s three wickets and the overall misfortune piled on Sunrisers Hyderabad, who chasing 211 to win lost by 61 runs on Tuesday.

To Abhishek Sharma, Chahal’s natural loop was enough enticement to leave his crease till he had got too close to the pitch of the delivery and miscued the shot. But it was Ashwin who had set up that dismissal with a seven-run eighth over at a time the required rate was already hovering over 15. Abdul Samad committed the same mistake in the 11th over, skipping down the track to Chahal looking to clear the deep. This time, he couldn’t even get close to the pitch of the ball but still went with the shot. He had no choice. The asking rate was touching 18 after Ashwin had just conceded four runs in the 10th over.

The narrative hadn’t changed in the slog overs as well. Royals captain Sanju Samson had brought back Nathan Coulter-Nile but a 17-run hiding, 12 of them coming through sixes from Romario Shepherd’s bat, prompted Samson to revert to Ashwin. It did the trick again as Ashwin produced skidders, carom balls and slower length deliveries to eke out a five-run over and finish his spell with 0/21. Back under pressure, Shepherd tried to slog sweep Chahal next over but the straight, quicker delivery went through his gates. So complete was the damage inflicted by Ashwin and Chahal’s eight-over spell that it bears an early warning to every other team, goading them into specifically preparing for this eventuality. Bound together by their contrasts, Ashwin and Chahal may have just set out on a spectacular campaign.