R Ashwin’s all-round brilliance

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Ravichandran Ashwin has yet again proved his brilliance as an all-rounder, after scoring a key 42 runs that helped India to not lose to Bangladesh in their second test match with India. While India were chasing 145, it conceded 7 wickets for 74 runs before Ashwin and Shreyas Iyer came to the rescue. While Ashwin’s skill as a red-ball bowler, as well as a dependable batter has been known for a while, the sheer scale of his all-rounder abilities is often forgotten.

Ashwin made his mark in Indian cricket with the Chennai Super Kings in the 2010 edition of the IPL, where he was viewed as a talented white ballspinner but was able to deliver impressive performances in longer format cricket as well, due to his extensive experience in the Ranji Trophy, and his understanding of the game.

In the 88 test matches he has played so far, he has claimed 449 wickets with an average of 24.3, which is better than that of Shane Warne’s. He has also earned a strike rate of 52.5, which is better than that of MuthiahMuralidharan. Of the 60 matches he has played in Asia, he has claimed 362 wickets with an impressive average of 21.44.

According to his childhood coach S Subramaniam, Ashwin is an intelligent player who analyses angles, lengths, width of the crease, and the batter. Throughout his career, Ashwin has also overtaken the achievements of many of India’s best spin bowlers, including a better average and strike rate than that of Anil Kumble, and a total tally that has surpassed that of Harbhajan Singh.

As a batter too, Ashwin has proven himself, with a total of 3043 runs, 5 centuries and 13 half-centuries, with an average above 27, during his test career. Furthermore, these were scored while having batted at positions 8 and 9 in about 70% of his innings. Of the 15 innings her has played at position 6, his average is 35.4, and he has scored two centuries and two fifties.

While his batting suffered a temporary slump in form after 2016, he is back to scoring runs that have often saved the team’s performance in various locations close to home and abroad. Among his memorable performances was his match against Australia in 2021, where he endured through back injury to score 39 runs off 128 deliveries, which resulted in a match saving draw.

Therefore, R Ashwin has conclusively proved his place among the greatest of all-rounders as an excellent bowler, and much better than a reliable batter. Compared to other all-rounders, he has been the second fastest to claim 400 wickets and 3000 runs (second only to Richard Hadlee), and has equalled Andrew Flintoff’s centuries while also being a better bowler. Ashwin is therefore a rare gem of an all-rounder for the Indian team, where he would be indispensable as a bowler alone.