R Ashwin: Labelling Ravichandran Ashwin as a classical off-spinner would be unfair to his extraordinary characteristics, his astute and experimental brain, and more than anything, his spate of variations. Ashwin is anything but just an off-spinner.
His 463 Test wickets in 90 Tests have come at 23.98 apiece. Only two bowlers – McGrath and Muralidaran – have taken more Test wickets than Ashwin and at a better average. Ashwin’s biggest competition in the off-spin category of his generation, Nathan Lyon, has a far worse record- 468 wickets in 117 Tests at 31, and Ashwin has outbowled Lyon over the past 3-4 series.
Ashwin has also taken 172 ODI wickets, 72 T20Is wickets, and 157 IPL wickets. Bamboozling the batter, outsmarting his opponent, and making them feel powerless against the off-spinner’s trickery has been a constant theme for the viewers in the past decade 13 years.
Here are R Ashwin’s top 10 magical balls:
Alastair Cook
This one from the 2018 tour is one of the most memorable dismissals from R Ashwin – dismissing arguably England’s greatest Test batsman Sir Alastair Cook, with the perfect line and length and just enough of drift, dip, and turn needed to draw Cook forward, but not to the pitch of the ball; to go past his edge, but not so much to miss the off-stump.
Beauty. So brilliant, that he did it twice in the same Test!
David Warner
Warner has been dismissed 11 times in Test cricket by R Ashwin, and Warner’s ordinary record in Asia is no surprise to his struggles against the champion off-spinner.
This dismissal, from the 2017 series, had Warner playing for the turn, and despite that the ball, delivered from over the wicket and pitching outside leg, turn so big and so sharply, that Warner missed a length delivery that hit the off-stump.
Watch all the videos at the bottom of the article
Ed Cowan
In this dismissal from the 2013 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, when Ashwin was taking giant steps toward becoming the giant he’s now, after teasing Ed Cowan’s outside edge, Ashwin pulled another rabbit out of his hat by bowling the left-hander around his legs!!
Dasun Shanaka
Dasun Shanaka is one of the best players of spin in the Sri Lankan team. But when he came up against a rampant Ashwin in the Test arena, Shanaka was rendered helpless when one of Ashwin’s delivery, bowled from round the wicket, pitched on middle and leg, went on with the angle.
Instead of turning or straightening, which Shanaka played for, the ball, an undercutter, hit the seam, and went past Shanaka’s outside edge to hit the off pole. Shanaka dumbfounded.
Tim Bresnan
England all-rounder Tim Bresnan is not renowned for his batting. And he would have doubts over his inferior skill when Ashwin knocked him over with a classic off-spinner’s dismissal in an ODI game: a tossed up delivery that pitched outside off and drew the batsman forward, turned big, went through the bat-pad gap and BOWLED.
Temba Bavuma
The 2015 India-South Africa series is recalled for the raging turners that the series was played on and the havoc Ashwin-Jadeja pair created on those surfaces.
There was little Temba Bavuma could do when one ball from Ashwin pitched on length and turned in, and Bavuma had made the mistake of going on the back foot. Even though Bavuma tried to cover the stumps, the ball beat his outside edge and uprooted the off-stump.
David Warner once again
Warner has given some hilarious reactions of being befuddled by Ashwin’s mastery. This one, from the 2013 series, said it all that Warner had no idea how to deal with Ashwin on Indian pitches.
Looking to sweep a delivery that pitched outside leg, Warner missed his sweep and the ball clattered into the sticks, bowling the left-hander around his legs.
Peter Siddle
Another one from that 2013 series against Australia, where Ashwin finished with 29 wickets and Man of the Series award as India swept Australia 4-0.
If the accomplished Aussie batters looked funny against Ashwin, what was a tailender Peter Siddle going to challenge. Anyway, this ball from the Tamil Nadu spinner was a peach, which Siddle took a bit of time to realise that he’d been bowled.
Slightly slower in the air, and a bit fuller, which – as usual – beat the batter’s outside edge on his defence and knocked over the off-stump out of the ground.
Carrom ball to Daren Sammy
Talk of his variations – the carrom ball from Ashwin, which kept low and went straight, surprised and perplexed Sammy before clattering the off-stump.
Dream ball
It is every off-spinner’s dream ball: pitched outside off-stump, the batsman confidently goes for the drive, only to be surprised by the sharp turn as the ball sneaks between the bat-pad gap and hits the top of off-stump. It doesn’t get more traditional than this.
Here, watch all 10 R Ashwin’s magical deliveries here in this video:
