Published: Feb 12, 2016, 08:40 AM (IST)
Edited: Feb 12, 2016, 03:43 AM (IST)
With each passing game, Ravichandran Ashwin impresses the observer only more than the previous occasion. Now when he’s peaked out with his bowling, having a wide range of variations and a sound discretion about the terms of their usage, it is his batting that’s continuing to make him shoot further up our individual consciousness as a player of greater substance. On Tuesday, in the first Twenty20 International (T20I) against Sri Lanka at Pune he was arguably the most watchable batsman on either side. His watchfulness of the seaming ball on an unusually green surface was worthy of all praise. Live cricket scorecard: India vs Sri Lanka 2015-16, 1st T20I at Pune
Even as established batsmen failed on the track, Ashwin seemed to have a great measure of it. He played some fantastic shots too, using the guile that has come to be associated with his bowling in his batting too, showing great inclination to bisect the field with cheeky shots at appropriate junctures.
He finished with an unbeaten 24-ball 31 to his name. In terms of runs scored only Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Chandimal surpassed him by four runs. But, even Chandimal was dismissed and he scored those runs at run-a-ball. Chandimal was not at the level of ease Ashwin seemed to find himself in.
Ashwin is a fantastic bowler. With his accuracy in his off spinners and the cheekiness in the carrom balls, he has proved devastating on numerous occasions. His prowess on sub-continent tracks is not even in doubt any longer. Even outside, he has developed a formula to keep batsmen in some kind off check even when not getting his wickets.
It is only better that he is also shaping up as such a reliable batsman lower down the order so as to look the best of the lot of two teams on a particular day. While his batting is of abounding value, it could prove to be fatal if too much external emphasis was laid to try and better it.
Whenever this topic emerges, flashbacks of Irfan Pathan are inevitable. He started off as a talented bowler and achieved remarkable feats across formats. In due time, a effective batting technique was unearthed and instead of letting it self-flourish, it was exploited and as a tragic outcome Pathan not only became an unconfident batsmen, but also lost his magic touch with the ball. A talent went down the drain.
In the greed to harness a certain batting caliber in Ashwin, India should not end up repeating the same mistake. He has progressed leaps and bounds as a batsman without being pushed to being an all rounder and the course of his development must not be altered for risk of mental burnout.
In all likeliness if Ashwin is left at his present state he will continue being a handy batsman lower down the order and an invaluable bowler, which is good enough to give India the stability it requires. But, if over-coached with the batting in a bid to make him a true all rounder, India may kill the golden goose. Ashwin is a great asset as is and should not be tampered with unnecessarily.
(Rishad D’Souza, a reporter with CricketCountry, gave up hopes of playing Test cricket after a poor gully-cricket career. He now reports on the sport. You can follow @RDcric on Twitter)
