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At home, Ashwin leads a spin fest
With wickets of Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Dube, R Ashwin slowed down CSK before Yuzvendra Chahal took over
Chepauk is where MS Dhoni’s heart is, now and forever. But no one can call it home more than Ravichandran Ashwin.
And as much as Chennai would have loved to witness it, there was no final overs showdown this time. There was a brief face-off though, three balls to be exact, that went off thrill-free.
On the leg stump the first ball, followed by a quicker one and then a more traditional off break, Ashwin was in his final over and at his thrifty best. Dhoni too seemed happy to play him out, taking two singles in the process.
Dhoni likes to take matches to the wire. But when Chennai Super Kings lost to Rajasthan Royals by one hit, he suggested more could have been achieved from the middle overs. From 78/1 in the 10th over, Super Kings slid to 113/6 by the end of the 16th. Barring one miserly over from Kuldeep Sen, this was all the spinners’ doing. Which isn’t surprising because the Chepauk pitch was supposed to slow down. But at the same time, CSK were expected to play better on a pitch they are supposed to know like the back of their hand.
“I don't think there was a lot for the spinners,” Dhoni said later. “Yes, they have experienced spinners, so they bowled very well. They were bowling the right length, but I felt in that period you have too many dot balls.”
Dot ball play
Out of the 37 dots bowled by Royals, 23 were accounted for by the spinners. At 10.75 runs per over, Adam Zampa was a touch expensive, partly because of the 18th over hitting from Dhoni but between Ashwin and Chahal, Royals had conceded just 52 runs in 48 balls and taken the wickets of Devon Conway, Ajinkya Rahane, Shivam Dube and Ambati Rayudu.
Chahal was, as usual, brilliant, varying his pace and making the batter reach for his shots. “In the first half, the wicket was gripping, I didn't want to give easy deliveries and wanted to vary my pace,” said Chahal, who now has 10 wickets, the highest among all IPL bowlers. But the first shots were fired by Ashwin.
In the context of the game, Rahane’s wicket is extremely valuable. Going at a strike rate of nearly 200, Rahane had already skipped down the pitch and lifted Ashwin for a six. But Ashwin slid in a skidding carrom ball when Rahane was premeditatedly going for a slog sweep.
That wicket started slowing down CSK as Dube was at pains to get his shots going with Conway watching helplessly from the other end. Dube's misery didn't last long as Ashwin trapped him leg-before with another skidder.
“He (Dube) is a designated spin hitter for CSK,” said Ashwin at the press conference. “The way he played Kuldeep (Sen) the previous over I knew he was going to come after me. I didn't have any deliberate plans, but I feel the ball is coming out really well, I'm able to get it to drop, I'm able to put enough revs, I'm able to use both my variations, my length and the arm ball at the moment is really good. I'm just happy the way it is coming out.”
Defending big scores has been particularly difficult this season. But Ashwin has averaged below seven runs per over in each of his four matches so far, returning figures of 1/27, 1/25, 2/25 and 2/25. Out of the T20 squad for six years, followed by a brief fling during the last World Cup and now again out of the reckoning, Ashwin's white-ball career hasn't had the momentum it should have in the context of his current form. But he isn't thinking too far ahead.
"I'm just enjoying the way I'm bowling; I'm not giving it too much thought," he said. "For someone like me who bowls at different phases of the game, I have to prepare myself to bowl different lengths, different speeds, different trajectories.
"Even Sanjay (Manjrekar) asked me: 'Are you keeping it a lot more simple'? You keep it simple only when you attain a certain amount of mastery over things, I feel. Like I told him, where I'm, what I'm, having played cricket for so long, I probably gauge things and deliver what I think is the best for that situation. I'm looking at deceiving the batsmen a lot more in the flight, that's because of where I find myself with the ball right now."
