A few years ago, Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was among the top spinners in every international cricket format. But now the time has changed as the 32-year-old is currently finding too difficult his spot in the limited-overs international cricket and his Test career is also under scrutiny.
Talking about Ashwin’s continuous decreasing status, while on one side we can find the massive growth of wrist-spinners in the Indian cricket team, then his own bowling performances will come in the other side.
In the recent cricket, especially in limited-overs, the Indian wrist spinners have achieved consistent success even outside Asia. Even in some crucial times, they have brought back the Indian team into the game, while they are also successful in the middle-overs strategies. Even when they have conceded too many runs, they mostly managed to take wickets also.
In the other side, the off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin lost his limited-overs spot due to his inconsistent bowling performances, especially outside the Asian soil. Since July 2017, Ashwin hasn’t played a limited-overs cricket for India, despite still being a top off-spinner of the country.
In the recent debate on finger spinner vs wrist spinner, Ashwin quoted, “Like they say, whatever spins, I’m sure everything will spin around. It’s only a matter of time I guess…most often than not, Indian cricket is build on perceptions, and I’m sure it will continue.”
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In the recent Test tour in England, Ashwin didn’t make a good impression at all. Though he started the tour very well with seven wickets in Birmingham Test (4/62 & 3/59), soon his performances were fade away as he picked up only four wickets in next five innings of that Test series. Especially Ashwin disappointed in the Southampton Test, where the pitch was spin-bowling friendly but Moeen Ali totally overpowered him.
Initially, it was believed that Ashwin’s injury was the reason for his unsuccessful bowling in the Southampton Test, which he also agreed. But the national team coach Ravi Shastri clarified that there was not the fitness issue, he only failed to hit the right areas.
While Ashwin is still playing the Test cricket, he is fighting to return to the white ball cricket and that’s why he is focusing mostly on domestic cricket.
Ashwin has recently added the leg-break and under-cutter (learning from Afghanistan off-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman) in his bowling, but mostly he is using his natural bowling or traditional off-break.
After the England tour, Ashwin had modest performances in the two-match home Test series against Windies, where he picked up nine wickets in four innings.
While the Indian cricket team is now playing the five-match home ODI series against Windies, Ashwin returned to the domestic cricket as he is playing the List A format Deodhar Trophy for India A. While India has still more than 15 ODIs left before the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup, starting on 30 May 2019, Ashwin hopes to return to the ODI squad and earn a valuable spot for the World Cup.
