Did Ravichandran Ashwin let India down in South Africa?
Ravichandran Ashwin was the name on everyone's mind throughout India's tour of England in 2021.
India's third-highest Test wicket-taker of all time, coming fresh off a dominant series against the Three Lions at home, was expected to be India's premier spinner in England. However, India went in with a 4-1 pace-spin combination in each of the four Test matches, with Ravindra Jadeja pipping the Tamil Nadu veteran to the playing XI.
Fans and pundits alike expressed their surprise and frustration as the Tamil Nadu spinner was continuously left out of India's team in England. Despite making an important contribution in the ICC World Test Championship Final in England, the team management chose to stick to the left-handed Jadeja throughout. Jadeja himself did not have a great series with ball in hand, scalping just six wickets over four Test matches and increasing the outside noise for the off-spinner to come in.
With Jadeja injured for the series in South Africa, Ashwin had a major opportunity to reaffirm his importance as India's premier spinner (or spin-bowling all-rounder). However, a disappointing series loss later, do India know their best overseas bowling combination? And what happens once Jadeja returns to the mix?
Ashwin had a poor tour of South Africa
Given the important No. 7 position for the South Africa tour, Ashwin was played by India as a spin-bowling all-rounder. Unfortunately, he could not do much with bat in hand, apart from an enterprising knock of 46 in the first essay of the Wanderers Test. Although the pitches were uniformly difficult for batters, the 35-year-old all-rounder largely got out to loose strokes and was not able to show patience and determination when the team needed it.
It was hoped that his returns with ball in hand would more than cover for his batting performance. There was little to write home about here, with him failing to make much of an impact. Of his three wickets from three matches, two were the last Protea wickets in the Centurion win - in six innings, he could dismiss only one top-order player (Keegan Petersen).
Ashwin can find solace in the poor returns of opposite number Keshav Maharaj, who now averages in the nineties against India as a Test bowler and inevitably was a much-needed pressure release valve for the Indians. Although Ashwin was not dispatched with as much disdain as Maharaj often was, he did release the pressure built up by the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami.
How has Ashwin fared previously as the lone spinner?
In the 20 games that Ashwin has played for India as the lone spinner (unsurprisingly, all overseas), he has gone wicketless on only three occasions and taken one wicket in just two completed Tests. Two out of five of these barren outings came on this tour of South Africa, and he could have had a third if not for the last two wickets at Centurion.
Even in India's previous tour of the Rainbow Nation, Ashwin picked up seven wickets from his two games. In games played as a lone spinner, his record is poorer than his overall Test record - due to this subset chiefly consisting of overseas matches with minimal support for spinners. Yet, by his own high standards, on wickets that had turn and bounce on offer, the 35-year-old underperformed.
Overseas, Ashwin also has a role with the bat, given his ability and the lack of expectation from India's pace bowlers in the same department. Unfortunately for him, his batting average is a shade below 18 when he plays as a lone spinner, compounding India's woes on overseas assignments. In this series, he averaged under 15, not making good use of his position in the line-up.
If not Ashwin, who else?
There are three different ways India - barring concerns about player availability - can proceed on overseas pitches which do not appear to support playing more than one spinner.
Ravindra Jadeja's bowling average from his fifteen games as a lone spinner is only a sliver better than Ashwin's, with both averaging in the late thirties. With the bat, the difference is a lot clearer, with Jadeja averaging 10 more than the senior off-spinner. Perhaps with these statistics in mind, India chose the Saurashtra all-rounder as the lone spinner in England.
If not a different spinner, India could have lengthened their batting with someone like Hanuma Vihari - who also got wickets with his part-time off-spin in the Perth Test of 2018. With pitches quite clearly being pace-friendly, India could have looked to ensure they got the runs on the board for their quicks to then defend - something which consistently plagued the unit in the matches they lost on tour.
Finally, should Hardik Pandya or another reliable seam-bowling all-rounder be fit, India could bite the bullet and play five quicks, with a batting line-up still stretching to No. 8 with Shardul Thakur in the team.
Although Ashwin has proven his versatility in the past, India have not shied away from making tough calls to secure unprecedented wins. Will he continue to warm the bench in the final Test against England later this year?