India vs England Test Series | Are Ashwin’s 29 five-wicket hauls less valuable than Virat Kohli’s 27 tons?

Ravichandran Ashwin also managed to enter a ‘special club of 200’ when he finished the day with 5 for 43 in the first innings of England’s batting. No bowler in history has managed 200 wickets of left-handers. (Image: AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

Greatness in the sporting arena often requires repetition and only Anil Kumble has got more five-for at home than Ravichandran Ashwin.

If Rohit Sharma’s hundred against England was exceptional on the first day of the second Test in Chennai, there was a sense of inevitability as far as another five-wicket haul for Ashwin was concerned.

Ever since his Test debut in 2011, Ashwin has ensured that none repeats the act of five wicket haul more than him in the Test cricket. With 268 wickets in India (only Anil Kumble is ahead with 350), Ashwin is also on the verge of becoming the second fastest bowler to reach 400 wickets in the Test history (since it’s impossible to break Muttiah Muralitharan’s feat in 72 matches).

Playing in his 76th match, Ashwin is just nine short and who knows he can do it in this match itself! Even if he doesn’t, there are still two matches to go in this series and it just looks like a formality to be completed. For record, Ashwin has the distinction of being the fastest to 300 and joint-fastest to 350 wickets.

The second day of the ongoing Chennai Test was also special for one more reason for Ashwin. The off-spinner also managed to enter a ‘special club of 200’ when he finished the day with 5 for 43 in the first innings of England’s batting. No bowler in history has managed 200 wickets of left-handers.

Even if belatedly, Ashwin seems to finally getting his due as a world class spinner and not just as a menacing operator in favourable home conditions. India’s incredible tour of Australia recently underlined the greatness of Ashwin when he finished with 12 wickets in three matches. He simply outclassed his fiercest rival of the generation Nathon Lyon by a mile.

During the course of his 5 for 43 on February 14, Ashwin also went past Harbhajan Singh’s home tally of 265. Purely on statistical evidence, forget Harbhajan (average of 28.76), even Kumble’s (24.88) record in home conditions is not better than Ashwin’s average (22.54).

Sometimes, it appears that Ashwin’s bowling accomplishments haven’t got the same kind of respect which his batting team-mates seem to have for achieving similar kind of deeds. Traditionally, a five wicket haul is considered the batting equivalent of century in an innings. Just try to contextualise this. Ashwin’s 29th five-wicket as 29 centuries from 76 Tests.  If you needed some help to understand the enormity of Ashwin’s accomplishment, just remember that Virat Kohli has managed 27 Test tons in 89 matches so far!

So, many may now ask once again that how many Ashwin may end up with eventually? Exactly a month ago, the highest wicket-taker in the history of the game, Muralitharan had reckoned that the seemingly-impossible barrier set by him of 800 wickets can be broken by Ashwin.

“Ashwin has a chance because he is a great bowler. Other than that, I don’t think any younger bowler coming in will go to 800,” Muralitharan was quoted as saying by Telegraph.

Of course, even Ashwin may not be thinking about 800 right now when he is just about to enter the 400 club. Yet, what he may try to target is Kumble’s 619 wickets which are the most by an Indian. In many ways, Ashwin has been facing a similar kind of challenges in his career which Kumble conquered in his illustrious career. Kumble too was recognised as an all-time great until he reached 500 Test wickets and proved his effectiveness beyond Indian shores.

Kumble too was never seen as captaincy material until Indian selectors had no option left than turning to him in 2007-08 when MS Dhoni was still making his mark in white-ball captaincy. However, despite leading Tamil Nadu to a domestic limited over trophy as a very young captain in 2009, Ashwin has never came close to India captaincy in any format during his run as one of the premier match-winners.

High time, Ashwin gets the same kind of respect everywhere in the world. He in many ways is a once

-in-a generation kind of bowler.

Almost a year ago, this writer had asked this question to Ashwin. He did admit that there is a conventional fear of a bowler either over-bowling or under bowling in a Test, but he also made a very interesting observation that why not only him but bowlers in general tend to get overlooked for such roles.

“A batsman can make a hundred, double or triple hundred. Numbers are large (to make an impact), while a bowler can maximum take 10 wickets. Sometimes it’s very difficult to put value to each wicket you pick, but yes for some reason or other nobody comes to watch bowlers,” said Ashwin.

That may be true especially in a country like India where fans generally come to stadium to cheer for a four or a six and batting feats. However, the Chennai crowd which cheered for Ashwin’s heroics as much as they did for Rohit Shrama on the previous day has proved that the veteran spinner is now getting the much-deserving adulation and appreciation for his craft.

High time, Ashwin gets the same kind of respect everywhere in the world. He in many ways is a once-in-a generation kind of bowler.