Ravi Shastri on Ashwin Retirement: Former India head coach Ravi Shastri spoke about what made recently retired all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin such a special player. He said he wanted to evolve with time and learn “new tricks”, which helped him achieve greatness.
Ashwin called time on his illustrious career at the end of the Gabba Test and left behind a rich legacy as one of India’s greatest match-winners.
Ravi Shastri on Ashwin: A True Match-Winner
Shastri was present to witness those match-winning efforts in his role as India’s head coach and the 62-year-old spoke about the spinner’s special quality while speaking with host Sanjana Ganesan on the most recent episode of ICC Review.
“I think the most striking thing for me was that he wanted to evolve all the time,” Shastri said, as quoted by the ICC. “He was not satisfied with his starts,” he added. Ashwin was known to keep evolving his game, working on new balls and his action, even towards the end of his career.
“He wanted to learn new tricks. He embraced it, worked hard on it and kept looking for new things as his career progressed, to keep up with the times,” Shastri said.
“His legacy will be that of a great match-winner, a great record, 537 wickets. I mean anybody with 500-plus in Test cricket is special,” Shastri said. Shastri also pointed out Ashwin’s improved stats in this decade, with the bowler taking 175 Test wickets at an average of 21.18 (which is better than his career average of 24).
“And the way he has done that in his tenure, especially when it came to bowling in the last four or five years, I think in India, with Jadeja, they were a formidable pair, the real spin twins,” Shastri said.
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A Spin Maestro with a Balanced Record
The former India all-rounder pointed out that the spin pairing with Jadeja meant that the two complemented each other in their quest for wickets. “They complemented each other and they inspired each other, so I would say a lot of Jadeja’s wickets in the last five-six years have come because of Ashwin and vice versa,” Shastri said.
This can be seen from how Ashwin and Jadeja’s averages improve when they play together, dropping from 24 and 24.05 to 22.32 and 20.91 respectively.
Concluding, Shastri praised the off-spinner and said his identical record against left-handed and right-handed batsmen (269 wickets of right-handed batsmen and 268 wickets of left-handed batsmen) showed how good the spinner was irrespective of the opponent and style of play.
“For me, it was his cleverness, his desire to excel in his craft and especially in the last two-three years, the way he pitched the ball in a way that it fell on the batsman and made him bounce, that made him stand out,” Shastri said
Ashwin’s Legacy: A True Match-Winner for India
If you look at his record against right-handed batsmen and left-handed batsmen, it is pretty much the same, which says it all. It didn’t matter to him who he was bowling against.
You know, he was up for it,” he said. In 106 Tests for India, the legendary all-rounder took 537 wickets at an average of 24.00 with a best of 7/59. Ashwin has taken 37 five-wicket hauls and eight ten-wicket hauls in his Test career.
He is the seventh-highest wicket-taker in Tests overall and the second-highest wicket-taker for India after legendary spinner Anil Kumble (619 wickets). He has the second-highest number of five-wicket hauls in Tests after Sri Lankan spin icon Muttiah Muralitharan (67).
