Ace off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has niched his name in the annals of Indian cricket with super form with the ball and bat and that enabled him to become number one bowler and a top all rounder in the world of cricket. Ashwin has wreaked havoc on South Asia’s spin-friendly tracks in the last six months, claiming 57 wickets in the eight tests he played at an average of 14.38. More so he has made winning a habit for Team India. Ashwin turned into an intelligent bowler. The saying spinners mature with age is true as the 29 year old lanky bowler reaped a rich harvest of wickets with subtle spin, varied pace and change of trajectory. Ashwin’s personal coach Sunil Subramaniam deserves all credit for transforming a defensive bowler to match winning bowler. The number of hours he worked with the Tamil Nadu spinner not only helped him to tune Ashwin a top class spinner and now achieved a great landmark as number one bowler. Bishen Singh Bedi the left arm spinner of yesteryears remained number one bowler in the year 1973 and we see an Indian spinner reaching the milestone with grit and determination. It took nearly 42 years to accomplish the task for an Indian bowler and the inform Ashwin got the opportunity to do so at the highest level. It is definitely a turnaround year for the tall bowler.
by Abhishek Ramaswamy
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
