The ball gripped and turned on the dry surface, and there was rough around the good length area as well. These were the playing surfaces rolled out for South Africa batsmen on their previous tour in 2015-16. Things are expected to be no different this time too during the three-Test series starting in Vishakapatnam on Wednesday, if the Indian team management’s wish is granted by the curators.
One of the Indian players studying the pitch composition with keen interest will be R Ashwin. Relegated to a fringe role in the last cycle of away matches, Ashwin at home should be among first names on the team list. His record is such. In 38 Tests at home, he has taken 234 wickets, a bowling average of 22.68.
Made to cool his heels in the dressing room in the Test series in the West Indies in August, India captain Virat Kohli’s dependence on Ashwin will be all the more in the absence of pace ace Jasprit Bumrah. For Ashwin’s off-spin and subcontinent wickets make a potent mix. The Proteas batsmen had a taste of it the last time around. The lanky spinner snapped up 31 wickets in four Tests—from only seven completed Proteas innings as the second Test was ruined by rain—to help India runaway with the series 3-0. There were four five-wicket hauls and one 10-for at an average of 11.13 as Ashwin formed a deadly combination with left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja. The two shared 54 of the 69 wickets to fall to bowlers.
OLD WOUNDS
South Africa’s rising star and main batsman, Aiden Markram, has admitted some of the batsmen will carry the scars from that debacle. Stalwarts Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers are no longer there. At the same time, the opposition batsmen will look for any signs of vulnerability in the off-spinner after his recent struggles, having lost the mantle of the main bowler in away series.
Apart from targetting the batsmen, the 33-year-old, India’s fourth highest Test wicket-taker, will also be competing with Jadeja and Co to wrest back the lead spinner’s tag after missing the last five Tests India has played, three in Australia (due to injury) and two in the West Indies because of team combination.
Ashwin’s struggles, in fact, started from the tour of South Africa (January, 2018), when he was left out of the eleven in the third Test on a seaming track. Then injury sidelined him for the fifth and final Test in England as well the last three Tests of the four-match series in Australia. In the West Indies, Jadeja was preferred over Ashwin.
It remains to be seen whether the setbacks have affected his confidence and rhythm in any way.
Shastri’s backing
India coach Ravi Shastri is expecting Ashwin to be back at his best to torment South Africa again. Though he didn’t say it in as many words, he gave enough hints that Ashwin is in India’s scheme of things, calling him world class. “The three-Test series will start, (and) you will get a chance to make your own judgement. He is world class, we got Jadeja who is world class,” Shastri said in an interview to Hindustan Times.
For Shastri’s former spin partner, Maninder Singh, Ashwin is India’s lead spinner whatever the conditions. In this series it will be about regaining his confidence.
“He is an intelligent bowler and his line and length is so good; he reads the batsmen very well. It’s a matter of confidence,” said the former India left-arm spinner.
“I will tell him to forget about the setbacks, start fresh. ‘You are the No.1 spinner; send that message to everyone,’” he said.
“He is a bowler, good for any conditions. He has a superb attitude, (and) it is the confidence a coach gives to a player (that will count).”
For Maninder, Ashwin and Jadeja will be the main factors again. “The two complement each other and will be the main force in the series. On these wickets, Jadeja’s style is very effective,” he said.
Ashwin has not played a Test since the first match the Australia tour in Adelaide last December. Playing international cricket provides a different challenge and it won’t be easy for the bowler to fit in straightaway. But he has prepared for the series as well as he could. With not much cricket action in India during this period, he has focussed on bowling a lot of overs in County cricket playing for Nottinghamshire.
In his last first-class match, from September 16 to 19, he bowled 58 overs. His form is also good. In the game against Kent (Sept 10 to 12), Ashwin returned four- and five-wicket hauls in the two innings.
India’s highest Test wicket-taker, Anil Kumble, too has called for Ashwin to be reinstated as the No. 1 spinner in the side. “He is still the best spinner that you have,” Kumble said in an interview with cricketnext.com. “Yes, there have been a few incidents where he has had injuries and not performed to his potential, but Ashwin is your No. 1 spinner in the team. He should be part of the squad, he should be in the playing XI. You have to make a way of getting him in.”