Former India head coach Ravi Shastri said that the recently-retired Ravichandran Ashwin’s constant drive to evolve was one of the reasons that made him stand out. Ashwin called time on his prolific career at the end of the Gabba Test, leaving a rich legacy as one of India’s finest match-winners.
Shastri was on hand to witness many of those match-winning efforts in his role as India’s head coach and the 62-year-old opened up on the tweaker’s penchant to develop his game, working on new deliveries and his action even in the later stages of his career
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“I think what stands out for me was his wanting to evolve all the time. He wasn’t the kind of guy satisfied as to where he started,” Shastri said at the ICC Review.
“He wanted new tricks to be learned. He pursued it, practiced hard at it and continued to look for new things as his career progressed, to keep up with the times,” he added.
Ashwin’s record, being the second-most successful India bowler in international cricket with 765 wickets (537 of those in Tests), standing only behind Anil Kumble (953), spoke for itself as per Shastri.
“His legacy will be of being a terrific match-winner, a fabulous record, 537 sticks. I mean anyone over 500 (in Test cricket) is special,” Shastri noted.
The former India all-rounder also marked out Ashwin’s improved numbers this decade, with the bowler picking up 175 Test scalps at an average of 21.18 (better than his career average of 24).
“And for him to do it in his span and the way he has done it, especially when it came to bowling in the last four or five years, I think in India, along with (Ravindra) Jadeja, I think they were a terrific pair, the real spin twins,” Shastri said while also explaining how the spin pairing with Jadeja, meant that the duo supported each other in their quest for wickets.
“They complemented each other well and they spurred each other on you know so I would say a lot of Jadeja’s wickets in the last you know five-six years have come because of Ashwin and vice-versa,” Shastri added.
This could be seen in how Ashwin and Jadeja’s average improves when they play together, dropping from 24 and 24.05 to 22.32 and 20.91 respectively.
Shastri also hailed Ashwin’s versatility, given that the star off-spinner has accounted for almost identical records against left and right-hand batters (269 right-handed batter wickets to 268 left-handed batter wickets) showed just how good the spinner was irrespective of the opponent and playing style.
“For me it was his guile, wanting to excel in his craft and (especially) in the last two-three years the way he got the ball to the way gave it a rip and got it to dip on the batsman with drift made him stand out,” Shastri said.
“And you look at his record against right-handers, against left-handers, it’s pretty much similar, you know, which says it all. It didn’t matter to him who he was bowling against. You know, he was up for it,” he added.