Ravichandran Ashwin | Epic tale of Emerging from the Ashes

Recently, Ravichandran Ashwin was selected in the Indian team for the 2023 ODI World Cup as a replacement for the injured Axar Patel. With this, he became only the second player after Virat Kohli to represent India in both 2011 and 2023 ODI World Cups. While his selection was on the cards ever since Axar Patel got injured during the Asia Cup, it has resurfaced a debate about the interesting way Ashwin’s international career has panned out, specially in the last few years.

From a T20 Talent to a Test Great

Ashwin’s has been a curious case. He, in fact, is the Benjamin Button of Indian Cricket. He made his first major appearance in Indian cricket when he made his debut in the IPL for CSK and his starting impression in the first couple of seasons of IPL was of a T20 specialist who had a lot of variations and tricks for the shortest format of the game. On the back of his impressive performance in IPL 2010, he was handed an ODI debut and then T20I debut in 2010.

Later in 2011, he managed to find a place in the 2011 ODI World Cup squad despite the presence of the senior Harbhajan Singh and surprise pick Piyush Chawla. In Nov 2011, he made his Test debut against WI and immediately took to the largest format of the game like a fish to the water and became only the third Indian to win the Player of the Match award on Test debut. Ravichandran Ashwin later on became, in fact, one of the rare players who came into the public’s reckoning through the IPL and proved himself good enough to have great success in Test cricket.

From an all-format player to Test specialist

Ravichandran Ashwin’s has been a rare case too. Ashwin had cemented his place in all three formats and became the mainstay in the team. In ODI format, he appeared in the 2011 as well as 2015 World Cups. He had a crucial role in the 2013 Champions Trophy win. In T20I format, he  played the 2012, 2014 and 2016 World Cups. In Tests, he was winning series after series and playing crucial roles in most of them, with the ball primarily and with the bat too occasionally.

Everything was hunky-dory till the time Champions Trophy 2017 happened which put a sudden and immediate stop on his white-ball international career. His place in Tests was still secure though and he kept on being one of the first names in the XI, specially in India. We have seen players picking and choosing formats or even team managements and boards preferring players playing any particular format to prolong their careers but this was one of the rare scenarios where an all-format player gradually became a Test specialist.

Greatest match winner in Tests, yet not a certainty in XI

Ravichandran Ashwin’s has been an interesting case too. On one hand, he is the greatest match winner for India in Tests. He has played 39 Test series for India till and has won 10 Player of the Series awards. Next best for India are Virender Sehwag, having won 5 Player of the Series awards in 39 Test series and the great Sachin Tendulkar who won 5 Player of the Series awards in 74 series. 

In the WTC cycle 2021-23, he was India’s best performer with the ball, still was unable to find a place in the XI in the grand finale. In the previous WTC cycle 2019-21, he was the highest wicket taker and was fortunate enough to make a place in the XI in the grand finale. However, that selection is still being debated. In fact, this has been a story of Ashwin’s Test career, especially in the last few years. Ravichandran Ashwin is one of the first names in the team sheet in the subcontinent but becomes surplus to the team’s requirements in some other parts of the world.

The best captain India never had (arguably)

Ravichandran Ashwin’s has been an unfortunate case too, or should I dare say it has been India’s misfortune rather. Shane Warne is widely regarded as ‘the best captain Australia never had’. Those who have closely followed Ashwin’s career would vouch for him too that he has been one captain India missed out trying. After all, Ashwin has been a cricket nerd with a deep appreciation of the nuances of the game and an acute knowledge of his craft along with presence of mind in pressure situations.

This becomes more significant if we mention the fact that since Ashwin’s international debut the list of people who have captained India is long enough and include the likes of Dhoni, Kohli, Sehwag, Raina, Gambhir, Sharma, Rahane, Rahul, Bumrah, Dhawan, Pandya, Pant and Gaikwad. Still, Ashwin not being considered to captain India for even a single game is beyond understanding.

The man of surprising comebacks

Ravichandran Ashwin’s has been a surprising case too. After Champions Trophy 2017, he was out of the white ball plans for years till the time the 2021 T20 World Cup happened. He made a surprising comeback in the squad for the event without having played a T20I game for 1577 days!! However, his stay in the T20I setup didn’t last too long and he was soon shown the door after the home series against New Zealand just after India’s unsuccessful T20 World Cup campaign in UAE in 2021.

Ravichandran Ashwin was again out of the T20I setup for close to eight months but there was another T20I World Cup in 2022 in October and November and selectors again turned towards Ashwin in July and the surprise-comeback man was again playing for India in the T20I World Cup in Australia later that year.

Ravichandran Ashwin did make surprising comebacks in the ODI setup too, not once but twice. After having played his last ODI in 2017, he made a brief comeback for a couple of ODIs against South Africa in Jan 2022 after 1663 days. This did not last long either and again Ashwin was sent  for a 20-month hiatus before him making a surprising come back just before another ODI World Cup and here he is – in the India squad for the World Cup 2023 and looking very much good to go and play the World Cup opener for India against Australia in Chennai, his home ground.

Ravichandran Ashwin – The World Cup Specialist

Ashwin’s has been a unique case too. We all know of Test specialists (Ashwin being one for a long part of his career), white-ball specialists, T20 specialists, new ball specialists, death over specialists but seldom we have encountered a player who has been selected for particular tournaments. In the last three years, whatever has happened with Ashwin’s white ball fortunes and the way it has happened, no harm in coining a new term- World Cup Specialist- for him.

The way Ravichandran Ashwin has made comebacks from nowhere and secured his place (not once, not twice but thrice) in the last 3 World Cups (ODI and T20I combined) is unprecedented in cricket’s history.

Ashwin has played 10 matches for India in the two ODI World Cups he has played so far, his last appearance being in 2015 where he played 8 matches and took 13 wickets at 25.38 apiece.

Overall, Ravichandran Ashwin has bagged 17 wickets in the competition at an average of 24.88 and an economy of 4.36 with his best figures being 4/25.

To summarise, Ravichandran Ashwin is a fun and interesting guy who has a lot of wit and street-smartness in the way he conducts himself on and off the ground. His career has been nothing short of an interesting bollywood thriller with lots of twists and turns. We wish him a lot of success in the upcoming World Cup and the rest of his career.