R. Ashwin 100th Test: How Ashwin's career has mirrored that of Anil Kumble - his idol & role model

R. Ashwin benefitted from his T20 exploits, but he isn’t an offshoot of the 20-over revolution.

R. Ashwin positively bristles at being called a product of the Indian Premier League (IPL). And not without reason.

Contrary to popular perception, Ravichandran Ashwin, 37, is a product of the Indian domestic structure. It took him five years from his first-class debut in December 2006 to break into the Indian Test squad, by which time he had taken 80 wickets for his home state, Tamil Nadu, for South Zone in the Duleep Trophy and for Rest of India in the Irani Cup.

There’s no denying the fact that the IPL fast-tracked his entry into the international set-up, which he himself is happy to admit. Such is the IPL stage that it brings players who have toiled away in the relative anonymity of domestic cricket instantly into the limelight. Ashwin benefitted from his T20 exploits, but he isn’t an offshoot of the 20-over revolution. In case one forgets that, he is the first to remind one of the same.

Having waited close to 60 months since his maiden first-class foray to realise his ambition of playing a Test, the engineer from Chennai made an instant impact, with six for 47 in West Indies’ second innings on debut in Delhi in November 2011. It earned him the first of numerous Player of the Match awards. R Ashwin had arrived, emphatically.

From Delhi in November 2011 to Dharamsala in March 2024 has been an eventful journey of numerous dizzying peaks and not infrequent dismal lows, especially just before the pandemic which, by his own admission, left him in a dark space. The enforced lockdown allowed him to introspect and rediscover his temporarily lost zest for the sport. Now, Ashwin is poised to enter the small club of Indians with 100 Test caps, an honour that will be his when Rohit Sharma exchanges the team sheet with Ben Stokes at the lovely HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala on Thursday morning.

Ashwin will become the 14th Indian in that select list; Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and Ishant Sharma are the only other bowlers in that league, which alone is sufficient to put Ashwin’s gargantuan accomplishment in perspective. But there’s more.

Ashwin didn’t even set out to be an off-spinner. His first love was batting, and he fancied himself as a top-order batsman, a position he occupied in the Indian Under-17 team two decades back. A chance happenstance in a club game in Chennai, when he took seven wickets against a team of left-handers, ignited his interest in the art of finger spin, and the cricketing firmament hasn’t been the same again.

In that regard, like in many others, Ashwin’s journey has mirrored that of his idol and role model Anil Kumble’s. The Bengaluru leg-spinner aspired to be a pace bowler in his formative years until being pulled up for a suspect action at the junior level, forcing him to change tack and embrace leg-spin. Kumble did that with aplomb, finishing with an India-high 619 Test scalps, a benchmark that has spurred Ashwin on, even though he is respectful of the older engineer’s standing in the sport and will embrace a touch of regret if and when he pulls level with the man who revived interest in wrist-spin in India.

Reasonably similar family backgrounds and values coupled with engineering degrees lend a touch of the intellectual to both champions. Like Kumble, Ashwin has reinvented himself at various stages, refusing to rest on his laurels and always seeking to add new tricks to his repertoire. One of the more tempting aspects of being successful is not to fix something that ain’t broke; after all, when something is working, where is the need to tinker and experiment? Neither Kumble nor Ashwin has conformed to that school of thought, with stunning results. The need to constantly keep developing and evolving, as an individual and a bowler, stems from a deep passion for and understanding of the craft as well as one’s own strengths and limitations. In that unending pursuit of excellence, Ashwin in particular has attracted his fair share of criticism, with the label of ‘overthinker’ firmly suffixed to his name, but that hasn’t prevented him from being his own man.

The success of that philosophy is evidenced by the mountain of wickets – last month, he became just the second Indian after Kumble to gatecrash into the 500-wicket club – but, more significantly, in the number of matches he has helped the team win, largely but not only at home. Away from the subcontinent, Ashwin hasn’t been the same force as in the familiar conditions in his own backyard, which is understandable. He isn’t the only big-ticket cricketer in that bracket, but far too often, his lack of commensurate returns overseas has been held against him, just as it was against Kumble for long until he silenced all comers with 24 wickets in three Tests in Australia in 2003-04.

Until his heroics Down Under, Kumble had played second fiddle overseas to Harbhajan, Sourav Ganguly’s go-to spinner outside of Asia. Likewise, over the last half-dozen or so years, Ashwin has ceded No. 1-spinner status abroad to Ravindra Jadeja, whose left-handed package has been a far more alluring proposition first for Virat Kohli and now for Rohit Sharma. The only difference is that in Kumble’s era, India often only played four bowlers; that Ashwin is being benched now when India regularly field five bowlers must be particularly galling for the off-spinner who believes he has plenty to offer, no matter the conditions.

Ashwin chose not to make a song and dance about the imminent milestone, pointing out that his parents, his wife and even his two young daughters were more excited that No. 100 was round the corner than the protagonist himself. That’s typical Ashwin – ‘There’s still a Test match to be won’ – but even the equanimous 37-year-old will be hard-pressed to set emotions aside when he walks on the field at some stage over the next two days. It won’t be a surprise if Rohit, a huge fan of Ashwin’s skills, his work ethic and his standing as the ultimate team man, allows his crack spearhead to lead the team out on to the field. Ashwin hasn’t led India in a formal capacity in any format – Kumble had to wait until his final year in international cricket to be appointed the Test captain – and so it will be fitting if his role as leader is acknowledged in what is certainly the autumn of a glorious career.

R. Ashwin made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka on June 5, 2010. His Test debut for India came over a year later, in November 2011, in a Test against the West Indies.

R. Ashwin had taken 80 wickets for his home state, Tamil Nadu, in the Duleep Trophy and for Rest of India in the Irani Cup before making his Test debut for India in 2011.

In the Indian Premier League (IPL), Ashwin played for the Chennai Super Kings from 2009-15. He then played for the Delhi Capitals, Rising Pune Supergiants (operational in 2016-17) and Punjab Kings, before the Rajasthan Royals (RR) got him for Rs 5 crore in the IPL Auction 2022. In the 17th IPL starting on March 22, 2024, R. Ashwin will again join the RR contingent led by Sanju Samson.

R. Ashwin had taken 507 wickets as of March 6, 2024. He took nearly 70 percent (354) of these Test wickets in India.

Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, V.V.S. Laxman, Virender Sehwag,

Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Cheteshwar Pujara. R. Ashwin is set to become the 14th Indian to play in 100 Test matches.