How good Ashwin is?

India has won another home series convincingly. This victory is even more special as it came against the best touring side of recent times, South Africa. Their decade long run of not losing a series away from home has finally been broken thanks to the spin strength of India. Jadeja continued his golden run in the Ranji Trophy (he had 6 consecutive 5-wicket hauls) in the tests. His 23 wickets came at under 11 apiece. But the man instrumental behind this series was Jadeja’s partner-in-crime Ravichandran Ashwin. He has won Man of the Series in five out of the six series India has won since his debut including this one against South Africa. With 32 tests under his belt, Ashwin is easily world’s best spinner among the current lot. Let’s compare how his records fare against other leading spinners at the same point of time in their respective careers.

Spinners after 32-tests (debut since 1990)

Bowler	Inngs	Wkts	Avg	SR	ER	BBI	BBM	5-fers	10-fers	Age
R Ashwin	59	176	25.39	52.4	2.9	7/66	12/85	16	4	29y, 77d
S Ajmal	61	164	27.25	62.4	2.61	7/55	11/111	9	4	37y, 86d
S Warne	58	155	23.29	64.9	2.15	8/71	12/128	9	2	25y, 110d
S MacGill	61	152	29.21	55.5	3.15	7/50	12/107	9	2	33y, 20d
D Kaneria	60	143	31.04	61.5	3.02	7/77	12/94	11	2	25y, 28d
S Mushtaq	57	142	28.4	67.7	2.51	8/164	10/187	11	2	24y, 69d
M Ahmed	54	141	26.95	58.6	2.75	7/56	10/106	9	3	27y, 142d
Harbhajan	59	141	26.74	61	2.63	8/84	15/217	11	2	22y, 162d
G Swann	58	140	27.72	57.5	2.89	6/65	10/127	10	1	32y, 84d
A Kumble	58	140	27.1	69.9	2.32	7/59	11/128	7	1	26y, 77d
Muralitharan	46	132	29.5	68.2	2.59	6/98	8/106	9	0	25y, 114d
Shakib	53	113	32.62	68.1	2.87	7/36	9/115	10	0	26y, 211d
N Lyon	62	112	32.42	63.8	3.04	7/94	9/165	5	0	26y, 92d
M Panesar	55	110	32.74	68.9	2.85	6/37	10/187	8	1	26y, 96d
R Herath	56	110	34.93	73.1	2.86	7/157	8/133	6	0	33y, 229d
D Vettori	54	106	33.31	79.1	2.52	7/87	12/149	5	1	22y, 285d
P Tufnell	54	98	35.29	89	2.37	7/47	11/93	5	2	31y, 304d
M Rafique	47	98	40.24	86.5	2.79	6/77	9/160	7	0	37y, 170d
P Adams	52	93	31.11	67.8	2.75	6/55	8/139	1	0	23y, 191d
P Harris	53	92	37.1	80.2	2.77	6/127	9/161	3	0	31y, 236d
A Giles	51	85	40.44	89.2	2.71	5/67	8/132	3	0	31y, 0d
N Boje	53	84	36.14	75.1	2.88	5/62	8/134	3	0	32y, 11d

 

There are 24 spinners since 1990 who has played 32 or more tests (all-rounders have been avoided for this article). Ashwin towers above the rest in terms of wickets taken with 176 scalps after 32 tests. Saed Ajmal is the only other off-spinner with 150+ wickets after 32 tests. On comparison, Murali had taken 132 wickets after 32 tests at over 29 apiece and a strike rate of 68.2, almost 7 runs more per wicket in comparison to his final average. But Murali was just beginning to peak. His big break came in the Oval test against England in 1998 where he took 16 wickets. In the next 32 tests he took 197 wickets at 22.72 (exactly his final career average) with 16 5-fers and five 10-fers. The other offies in the list are Saqlain (142 wickets at 28.4), Harbhajan (141 at 26.74), Swann (140 at 27.72) and Lyon (112 at 32.42).

Ashwin’s average of 25.39 is bettered only by the great Shane Warne after 32 tests. However Ashwin’s wickets came at under 53 balls or around 9 overs per wicket, which is the best among the 24 spinners in the table above. Ashwin had 16 five-fers after 32 tests where no one else had more than 11 and his 4 ten wicket hauls is matched only by Saed Ajmal. In all the home series he played, Ashwin has had a major say in the outcome than any other Indian player. In the six home series he played, he topped the wickets table from either sides on five occasions. The only time he missed out was against England in 2012 where his 14 wickets in four tests cost him 52.64 per wicket. That was India’s only series loss at home since Ashwin’s debut. In the other 15 tests across 5 series, India has won 13 and drawn two. In these 15 tests, Ashwin has taken 112 wickets at just a shade under 17 and striking once every 6.5 overs.

R Ashwin: On his way to greatness

On comparison with other top Indian greats

Bowler	Inngs	Wkts	Avg	SR	ER	BBI	BBM	5-fers	10-fers
R Ashwin	59	176	25.39	52.4	2.9	7/66	12/85	16	4
Harbhajan	59	141	26.74	61	2.63	8/84	15/217	11	2
A Kumble	58	140	27.1	69.9	2.32	7/59	11/128	7	1
BS Bedi	59	121	28.19	87.1	1.93	7/98	9/108	5	0
B Chandrasekhar	55	134	29.3	67.9	2.58	8/79	11/235	8	1
EAS Prasanna	56	143	29.25	69.7	2.51	6/74	10/174	8	1
Venkatraghavan	58	98	33.19	89.4	2.22	8/72	12/152	3	1

The feats of Chandrasekhar, Prasanna, Kumble and Harbhajan are strikingly similar – wickets taken between 134 and 143, averages between 26.7 and 29.3 and strike rate in the sixties. Ashwin once again head and shoulders above the rest of Indian greats across eras. Prasanna is next best with 143 wickets to Ashwin’s 176 while in terms of averages Harbhajan is second with 26.74 to Ashwin’s 25.39. Nobody even comes close to his strike rate of a wicket under every nine overs. However Harbhajan’s next 32 tests saw him picking 123 wickets but they came at nearly 37 apiece. In his first 32 tests, Harbhajan’s wickets at home came at 21.55 whereas in the next 32 it came at 31.61 which explains for the swell in average. Kumble’s records over the two halves are much more even – 140 to 149 wickets at almost similar averages, both home and away.

Home and Away records

Ashwin has taken 126 wickets at home at an average of 20.92 while his 50 wickets away from home came at 36.66 apiece. Ashwin’s average difference of 15.74 between home and away is the third worst after Mohammed Rafique (17.37) and Kumble (16.55). Remember all of Saed Ajmal’s exploits came away from Pakistan. Only three bowlers have a better away average compared to home average and all three are slow left arm bowlers – Shakib with 5.33, Ashley Giles with 26.81 and Nicky Boje with 18.65. However Giles and Boje occupy the last two slots in terms of wickets taken with 85 and 84 respectively after 32 tests.

Ashwin’s away record is slightly skewed by his four tests in Asia this year. In the nine tests outside Asia, he has taken only 24 wickets at 56.58. In the other four tests away from home, he has taken 26 wickets at 18.26 thereby bringing his away averages to a more respectable 36.66. A wicket less match at the Wanderers in a high scoring draw meant he was dropped for next six tests, all away from home. Barring England, Ashwin has done well against all other teams as the below table shows. Somewhat strange considering the fact that how poor England have been against spin (they average 32.98 against spin since Ashwin’s debut), but they have found a way to tackle the best spinner of the times. England is the only side whom Ashwin is yet to take a 5-fer. Against Australia, again it’s a tale of two halves – 29 wickets at 20.10 in India and 21 wickets at 54.71 Down Under.

Vs	Mat	Inns	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	5-fer	10-fer
Aus	10	18	50	7/103	12/198	34.64	2.98	69.7	4	1
Ban	1	2	5	5/95	5/95	19	3.06	37.2	1	0
Eng	6	10	17	3/72	5/214	49.29	3.07	96.1	0	0
NZ	2	4	18	6/31	12/85	13.11	2.64	29.7	3	1
SA	5	9	31	7/66	12/98	14.61	2.19	40	4	1
SL	3	6	21	6/46	10/160	18.09	3.3	32.8	2	1
WI	5	10	34	6/47	9/128	21.64	3.04	42.7	2	0

Another facet of Ashwin’s rise has been his success against left handers. He has dismissed exactly 100 left handers in his career so far and since his debut the next best is Trent Boult with 62 southpaws in his kitty. Among the 32 spinners under the purview of this article, Graeme Swann is the only other who has a better record against the left handers (66 to 74).

118 out of Ash win’s 176 scalps has been from the top seven in the batting order. A difference of 60 between scalps from the top seven and the tail (i.e. the last four) is the third best among all spinners from the first table. The two Pakistani leggies – Mushtaq Ahmed with 71 (106 to 35) and Danish Kaneria with 61 (102 to 41) are ahead of him. Saed Ajmal (106) is the only other to take more than 100 wickets from the top seven.

Ashwin also seems reveling Virat Kohli’s leadership. In his nine tests under Kohli, he has taken 62 wickets at 17.20 with a wicket every six overs. Under the more conservative MS Dhoni, he averaged a very respectable 28.77 per wicket but he got a wicket only every ten overs. 

Ashwin the all-rounder

Player	Runs	Bat Avg	Wkts	Bowl Avg	Diff
R Ashwin	1204	31.68	176	25.39	6.29
Kapil Dev	1150	26.74	125	26.76	-0.02
Irfan Pathan	1105	31.57	100	32.26	-0.68
R Shastri	1580	38.53	68	40.26	-1.72
M Prabhakar	1324	33.1	92	36.52	-3.42
V Mankad	1434	28.11	124	32.9	-4.78
C Borde	1706	34.81	49	46.24	-11.42

* Irfan Pathan played 29 tests.

Ashwin is currently the leading all-rounder in the world in test cricket according to the latest ICC rankings. The above table compares Ashwin with other leading Indian all-rounder’s after 32 tests (Irfan only played 29 in his career). A difference of 6.29 between the batting and the bowling average for Ashwin is the highest for an Indian all-rounder after 32 tests. The next best is by inarguably the greatest all-rounder India ever produced, Kapil Dev who averages 26.74 with the bat and 26.76 per wicket with the ball. After 20 tests, Ashwin averaged 41.61 with the bat with two hundreds but it has plummeted almost 10 points back at this point of time though he played some key knocks. On his return to the team after missing six tests at Old Trafford, he scored 40 (out of team’s 152) and 46 not out (out of 161). In the series decider in Sri Lanka, he scored 58 runs batting at number nine stitching together key partnerships with Amit Mishra and Umesh Yadav. Again the 98 run 8^th wicket partnership with Rahane on the second day morning at Delhi taking the match out of South Africa’s grasp. 

With the standard of batsman all around the world to counter quality spin bowling dwindling, one would have to believe it would be only a matter of time before Ashwin’s sets his record right away from home. The way he flummoxed AB de Villiers in the second innings of the Nagpur test reflects the rise in stature of Ashwin the bowler. With skipper Virat Kohli, Murali Vijay, Ajinkya Rahane and Ishant Sharma along with Ashwin, India is going to be a force to reckon in the world cricket in the coming years.

Photo Courtesy: The Hindu