Is Ashwin doing enough overseas for India as a lead spinner

R. Ashwin

Not to be questioning Ashwin’s integrity and the quality he brings to the table, but on pitches that don’t offer the spinner any purchase to work with, and especially on foreign pitches, is Ashwin doing enough to give Dhoni and India the stability by keeping the runs down and chipping away at the wickets?

Yes he’s only into his 2nd overseas bilateral tour outside of the sub-continent, but just looking at the way he is bowling currently in the 2nd ODI at Durban and how he was taken to the cleaners at the wanderers, it’s hard not to be concerned at such an abominable showing. Surely the wickets aren’t conducive to Ashwin’s style of bowling, or for that matter any spinner, who relies heavily on turn and bounce. But, what bothers me is his inability to learn quickly and adapt accordingly.

He knows that the wicket isn’t assisting him enough to go for wickets in cluster, but that does not mean he can bowl badly and go for runs aplenty.

Just delving a bit more into what has got me writing this piece on Ashwin, he’s continually operating on a stump-stump line, and when the wicket doesn’t provide him turn, how does he trouble the batsman and put doubts in his mind?

Because of his stump-stump line bowling, he’s giving the batsman like Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock the freedom to manipulate him all around the clock and that is never good for the confidence of any bowler, and moreover, it doesn’t allow Dhoni to keep the pressure on the batting side during the middle overs.

I’d suggest Ashwin to bowl outside the batsman’s off-stump a lot more and make the batsman come at him, rather than playing it into his hands. Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla are wristy players, who don’t need invitation to play against the spin and whip it on to the on-side and I believe, Ashwin needs to rethink his strategy when it comes to bowling on pitches that don’t offer him anything.

To continue further on the point of bowling outside a batsman’s off stump, set a field that entices a batsman into driving you through the covers. Have a slip, a short third-man, a backward point, a straight-ish cover fielder, who can stop the continued flow of singles and have a short fine-leg as well for the top-edged sweep. If you can get a batsman driving from outside the off-stump or force him into playing a slog sweep, you’re surely going to play on the batsman’s mind.

A batsman who drives or sweeps from outside the off-stump will always keep the slip, the short fine-leg and backward point fielder interested and by adopting such a style of bowling, I am sure Ashwin can put the brakes on free-scoring batsmen like Quinton De Kock and Hashim Amla. Because otherwise, there’s far too much of predictability with how Ashwin’s bowling and it’s playing on the temper of Dhoni, who’s known to be calm and composed under intense scenarios.

Ashwin also struggled against Australia when India went Down Under in 2011 and yet again vindicates the headline of this article.

Just as I move closer to pulling the curtains on this article, Ashwin gets the wicket of Quinton De Kock, who plays a full-blooded sweep shot straight into the hands of the fielder at square-leg – line of the delivery was again on and around middle-stump. He certainly doesn’t think my way, does he?

Ashwin certainly needs to rethink his bowling strategy when India travel abroad and plays as the lone spinner in the side, otherwise India are in serious jeopardy of developing another toothless spinner, who just doesn’t pickup wickets, doesn’t curb the flow of runs and moreover, he’s the lead spinner in the side.