Ashwin is the do-it-all man this IPL
Mumbai, India - Even before the season began, R Ashwin was told by the Rajasthan Royals management to be prepared to bat at No. 3, should they lose an early wicket. Having opened the batting in the practice matches, Ashwin previously did the job of a pinchanchor or a pinch-hitter depending on the situation. On Friday against Chennai Super Kings, Ashwin had to deal with the unfamiliar role of finishing a chase. And finish he did, with a whole lot of smarts, establishing himself as the do-it-all man this IPL.
Bowl with the new ball? Sure. Bowl in the middle or death? Why not. Bowl to right-hand batters? Yes, sir. Bat at No. 3? Bring it on. After all, Andre Russell aside, Ashwin is the only player to do the double of taking 10 wickets and scoring 150 runs this IPL.
Closing out a high-pressure chase, with a top-two spot at stake, however, isn’t up Ashwin’s alley. He is no power-hitter like Russell or his Royals team-mate Shimron Hetmyer. His batting style is more suited to chipping the ball over the infield and taking advantage of the powerplay restrictions.
Ashwin walked out to bat in the 12th over in Royals’ pursuit of 151 to give Hetmyer and Riyan Parag ideal entry points. However, with Hetmyer holing out while trying to clear the bigger boundary for 6 off seven balls and Parag only going at a run a ball in the end overs, Ashwin cranked up the tempo, with an unbeaten 40 off 23 balls, to usher Royals home.
He dashed out of the crease on the third delivery he faced from Moeen Ali and pumped it over the shorter leg-side boundary for six. Super Kings, however, struck back through legspinner Prashant Solanki who dared Hetmyer to clear the bigger side and had him skying a catch to deep midwicket. At this point, Royals needed 39 off 22 balls, with four potential No. 11s - Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Prasidh Krishna and Obed McCoy - in the dugout.
Ashwin knew that Solanki would now hide the ball away from his reach and deny him access to the shorter leg-side boundary. Ashwin, however, shuffled across off, brought it within his reach and slog-swept a flat six against the turn. When Mukesh Choudhary erred too full, Ashwin got underneath the length and once again cleared the midwicket boundary for his third six - the joint-most he has hit in a T20 game.
Game over for Super Kings
Ashwin attributed his success with the bat to the hard yards he had put in at training in the recent past. Speaking to his former Tamil Nadu team-mate and good friend Abhinav Mukund on Star Sports Tamil, Ashwin revealed that he had been working on perfecting the slog sweep since the Chennai Test against England in February 2021, when he countered Moeen and Jack Leach.
“I’ve been playing the slog sweep for some time,” Ashwin said. “I’ve been trusting the sweeps more regularly since the Chennai Test match.”
Delhi Capitals 159 for 7 in 20 overs (Rishabh Pant 39 (33) 4x4, 1x6, Rovman Powell 43 (34)1x4, 4x6; Jasprit Bumrah3 for 25) lost to Mumbai Indians 160 for 5 in 19.1 overs (Ishan Kishan 48 (35) 3x4, 4x6, Dewald Brevis 37 (33) 1x4, 3x6, Tim David 34 (11) 2x4, 4x6) by 5 wickets