R Ashwin’s renewed zeal keeps up Delhi Capitals hopes
“Spin bowling is like software. If you don’t try and upgrade it, you will fall by the wayside,” he had said in 2015.
Talk about spin and the IT engineer in R Ashwin can peek out. “Spin bowling is like software. If you don’t try and upgrade it, you will fall by the wayside,” he had said in 2015. That comment was revisited by Delhi Capitals’ twitter handle after the off-spinner took 3/29 in the first playoff against Mumbai Indians on Thursday.
Pretty much alone among the DC bowlers in putting up a fight in that defeat,
Ashwin’s victims were Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard and Quinton de Kock. It was no exception. The 34-year-old has made it a habit to snare big names this season. His bag of 13 wickets is stuffed with Virat Kohli, David Warner, Chris Gayle, Steve Smith and Jos Buttler as well.
In terms of numbers, his tally does not put him among the top-10 bowlers for IPL 2020. His economy of 7.50 is decent but not good enough to be in the top 20.
That only tells half the story about a bowler who is not merely about statistics. Ashwin has not just scalped big guns, he has done that early too, having got most of his wickets in the powerplay. He just hasn’t allowed batsmen to settle down.
Ashwin’s skill and acumen must remain at the same level if DC are to arrest the slump in the second half of the tournament and defeat Sunrisers Hyderabad in the must-win Qualifier 2 on Sunday.
Variations have been a constant in Ashwin’s career. This IPL, he even bowled round-arm to surprise the batsmen.
Former India spinner Maninder Singh though gives the reason for Ashwin’s impressive spells this season—keeping faith in his stock off-spin deliveries.
“There was never any doubt that Ashwin was a class bowler. It’s only that he started doubting himself and started trying too many things in T20. This IPL, he has used his variations, but he has not forgotten his off-spin. He has mixed it up well. For the last couple of IPLs it seemed Ashwin was not an off-spinner, just a variation bowler,” he said.
“He is an intelligent bloke. Somebody should have told him a few years ago ‘you are an off-spinner, don’t forget that’. Why did Ashwin get into the Indian team—
because he was getting wickets in the powerplay overs for Chennai Super Kings. You keep bowling your off-spinners and then mix. That makes sense.”
Maninder’s assessment is reflected in the numbers since 2011 IPL, which was Ashwin’s best season when he took 20 wickets. That was when he built his reputation in the Indian team and rose to become one of the best spinners in the world. He is still the go-to bowler in Tests. In limited-overs cricket though, Ashwin has not played for India since 2017. His IPL wicket tally has touched double figures in each of the last 10 seasons, and since the high of 2011, it has swung between 10 and 16.
PERCEPTION BATTLE
The Indian team management backed leg-spinners in the build-up to the 2019 ODI World Cup with the perception that wrist spinners were a better option as wicket-takers than a finger-spinner.
“When you say it’s a perception, it is related to a group of people who believe in it. It’s always going to happen because people will have to make decisions, whoever they are. The decision makers will have to pride themselves in the kind of decisions they make. If that (wrist-spinners being more attacking) is a perception, I would definitely take it upon myself to break that because all I can do is perform as best as I can,” Ashwin said in an interview to HT during IPL 2019.
That was his second season with Kings XI Punjab after he was let go by CSK ahead of IPL 2018. As KXIP captain, he took 15 wickets at an economy rate of 7.27. KXIP still traded him to DC.
Ashwin started this season with a bang. He removed KXIP’s Karun Nair and Nicholas Pooran in a double-wicket first over in the powerplay. Though it helped DC win, he injured his left shoulder attempting a diving stop on follow through in the only over he bowler and had to sit out a couple of matches. Since return, he has been crucial in getting DC breakthroughs.
That he was mixing up his deliveries was evident in the first play-off against MI. He got Rohit Sharma with an off-break that drifted and dipped, Pollard fell to a carom ball.
The previous game against RCB that DC won to ensure a top-two finish in the points table, it was pace variation. Kohli, struggling to score, charged out only to miscue a rank slow delivery to midwicket.
“From whatever I have seen this season, I enjoyed when I saw him bowl off-spinners. A couple of times he got cover-driven by left-handers for boundary and my heart sank. I used to think ‘don’t go back to what you were doing in the past few seasons. This off-spin will get you wickets’. He just brought the trajectory down but was bowling off-spinners as well, which I felt happy about. He has not been defensive,” Maninder said.
