Ashwin’s success with new ball crucial for India

ASHWIN TOOK 220 WICKETS AFTER THE ONE-OFF TEST AGAINST BANGLADESH IN 2015, 103 OR AROUND 47% OF WHICH WERE TAKEN IN THE FIRST 40 OVERS.

By dismissing three top order Australia batsmen — Marcus Harris, Shaun Marsh and Usman Khawaja — R Ashwin helped India bounce back in the Adelaide Test after a dismal first innings total.

But demolishing top order batsmen with a relatively newer ball is an old habit for Ashwin.

In fact, of his 339 Test wickets, 68 scalps — or 20% — have been taken in the first 20 overs of an innings. On Friday, his three wickets came between the 21st and the 40th over of the innings.

That way, Ashwin is different from most other spinners who prefer bowling with the old ball for the grip and turn it offers. But this hasn’t always been the case with India’s star off-spinner.

If we look at the stats, before India’s one-off Test tour of Bangladesh in June 2015, Ashwin took 119 wickets, 44 of which were taken in the first 40 overs. That comes to around 37%.

After the Bangladesh tour, the rate at which he took wickets with the new or semi-new ball improved. Ashwin took 220 wickets after that Test, 103 or around 47% of which were taken in the first 40 overs.

It also needs to be taken into account that India have played quite a few Tests in the sub-continent where there have been occasions where Ashwin has opened the bowling because of the turn and bounce the wicket offered.

The fact that he has started taking more wickets at the start of innings can be seen from the clustering of dots at the bottom of the chart given below.

The biggest cluster can be seen at the end of 2015 when South Africa toured India for a four-Test tour. Ashwin took a total of 31 wickets in the series, including a 12-wicket haul in the Nagpur Test in November.

Of the 31 wickets taken in the series, 18 of them — around 58% — were taken in the first 40 overs. If India are to win their first Test series Down Under, a lot will rest on the broad shoulders of this spinner and his ability to take wickets with the new ball.