Ashwin can reawaken winter demons – and show gulf in resources
Hhaving struggled against a fearsome seam attack, England batsmen may now have to face up to India’s premier spinner
While England shuffle their pack for the third Test at Headingley – Dom Sibley out, Dawid Malan in, Haseeb Hameed up to open the batting – India hold the aces and could get stronger.
As if the tourists’ seam attack is not strong enough, having run through England in 51.5 overs on the last afternoon at Lord’s, India could greatly enhance their spin bowling by bringing back the player of the series when the two countries last met, Ravichandran Ashwin, in place of Ravindra Jadeja.
Whereas Jadeja stands at the top of his mark like an ordinary bowler, Ashwin spins the ball like a conjurer. Such is the deception that as he starts his run, limbs waving and weaving like a gigantic spider, it is not immediately apparent which arm he will use.
But when Ashwin turned his right arm over in India last winter, he dismissed 32 England batsmen at 14 each, swallowing youngsters such as Sibley and Ollie Pope like flies.
So far Jadeja has been India’s sole spinner in this series, and has not taken a wicket. He has barely beaten the bat past either the inside or outside edge. The one respite for England’s batsmen so far has been when they have been allowed to milk Jadeja – nothing too drastic, not so many big shots that he has had to be taken off, just kept in India’s side while England have taken 98 runs off his 44 overs scotfree.
Jadeja vies with Virat Kohli for the title of India’s most dynamic fielder, not simply on this tour but of all time, and has pulled his weight at No 7 with the bat, but it is hard to imagine England will be able to pull the wool over India’s eyes for much longer. Ashwin at his best continually beats both edges: if India pick him for Headingley, England’s batting could go one step further from being utterly dependent on Joe Root to disintegration.
It is not as if Ashwin has been idle in recent weeks while passions have been raised in this Test series, or is a stranger to English conditions. He has played for Nottinghamshire, topping their batting and coming second in their championship bowling averages in 2019.
After the World Test Championship final in June at Southampton – where Ashwin took four New Zealand wickets for only 45 runs – Surrey, very thoughtfully, kept him in form while India’s other players holidayed around Britain, by giving him a championship game at the Oval: indeed Surrey gave Ashwin a dry, turning pitch, the new ball and two other specialist spinners to help him.
The irony was not lost on Surrey’s opponents, who happened to be Somerset. When they prepared a turning pitch at Taunton and picked three spinners to play Essex in September 2019 – in effect for the championship title – they were docked 24 points.
In Somerset’s first innings at the Oval in mid-july Ashwin took one wicket for 99. In their second innings he struck, taking six wickets for 27 as the visitors were dismissed in fewer than 30 overs. One Somerset player noted that Ashwin tried too many variations first time around, in addition to his stock off-break. In the second he kept it simple, and pinned batsmen like butterflies to the scoreboard. Not many countries would have omitted a bowler who has taken 413 Test wickets, as India have. Ashwin’s home record is much superior, but his 18 Test wickets in England have still cost only 28 runs each. He naturally prefers lefthanded batsmen, as Rory Burns would attest, but he has still got Root out five times, pinning him lbw twice in Ahmedabad last winter. England, meanwhile, can tinker with their attack. Sam Curran might have one more chance to improve his strike-rate – now less than two wickets per Test – if Headingley has its share of “overheads”. Craig Overton or Saqib Mahmood will be brought in, or both if Mark Wood’s right shoulder has not recovered and Curran is omitted. It is not quite the same as bringing back an all-rounder who in his 79 Tests averages 27 with the bat and 24 with the ball. Only Ben Stokes could match that.