Ashwin - The ATG Spinner

[honestbharani]

Just sit back and get ready to marvel at R Ashwin, for the 100th time

At his core, he's a getter-out of batters, and one of the greatest there has ever been - having every tool a spinner needs to take wickets anywhere in the world

www.espncricinfo.com

Its almost as if people just wanna hate the GOAT spinner.

 

[honestbharani]

In the days since his Ranchi masterclass, he will also have noted, with a wry smile, the scorecard from the Wellington Test match, and the numbers in the wickets columns of Nathan Lyon and Glenn Phillips. Glenn Phillips! Over the last few years, Ashwin has also seen Keshav Maharaj, Jack Leach, Neil Brand and Dane Piedt take bagfuls of wickets in New Zealand. When India have gone to New Zealand, however, or to South Africa or most venues in England, they have invariably come face to face with greentops designed to neutralise their spinners. The lack of a five-wicket haul outside Asia and the West Indies is viewed as a gaping hole in Ashwin's CV, but in denying him a real chance to fix it, India's oppositions have paid him perhaps their greatest tribute.

Says it all.

 

[honestbharani]

R Ashwin: 'If I am under pressure, I try to put the opposition under five times as much'

The masterful India offspinner talks about his journey to the 100-Tests milestone and what playing the format means to him

www.thecricketmonthly.com

 

[ankitj]

R Ashwin: 'If I am under pressure, I try to put the opposition under five times as much'

The masterful India offspinner talks about his journey to the 100-Tests milestone and what playing the format means to him

www.thecricketmonthly.com

Big

 

[Flem274*]

Says it all.

Jadeja had those chances tbf and he goes ok but did not. Decent career average.

Lyon is made for NZ decks and God loves Glenn Phillips sometimes.

 

[Spark]

Yeah I mean I dunno about this "aha NZ cunningly only rolling out a spinning deck for Lyon" when that's, like, the worst possible decision they could make given the teams they're picking.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Greentops eh

 

[Flem274*]

It's not like Brand or iirc Leach got cheap poles either, and Hagley is ruthless on all spinners. Local ones, foreign ones. The one exception was when Hagley hosted both SA tests during covid and Maharaj got going at the end of a ground used for 10 days.

 

[honestbharani]

Yeah I mean I dunno about this "aha NZ cunningly only rolling out a spinning deck for Lyon" when that's, like, the worst possible decision they could make given the teams they're picking.

I dont think anyone is calling it brilliant strategy, but it has very obviously been a strategy to basically nullify spin to hilarious levels by NZ, RSA and to some extent, England when they host India.

Even Aus are doing the same thing trying to host us in Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide (D/N) before we get to the traditional Melbourne and Sydney tests.

 

[Spark]

I dont think anyone is calling it brilliant strategy, but it has very obviously been a strategy to basically nullify spin to hilarious levels by NZ, RSA and to some extent, England when they host India.

Even Aus are doing the same thing trying to host us in Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide (D/N) before we get to the traditional Melbourne and Sydney tests.

???

The Melbourne and Sydney tests being the last Tests in the schedule is, like, the norm in a five Test summer. Generally speaking the only times we get one or two games after Sydney is when it's six Tests in the summer and two teams touring. RSA being a spinners' graveyard isn't an India specific thing either.

 

[honestbharani]

???

The Melbourne and Sydney tests being the last Tests in the calendar is, like, the norm in a five Test summer.

Yeah, but I meant the Perth before Gabba. And Adelaide not being the starting test, even in the D/N avatar.

 

[Flem274*]

India don't get the most spin friendly deck in NZ because they never come during holiday season.

You want the mount, play here at Christmas or new years.

Chch generally has good weather later in summer so your odds of arguably the least friendly pitch to spin in the world increase astronomically the later you tour, especially since it's our only South Island test venue and a fantastic facility.

 

[Flem274*]

Also grass in NZ = pace and carry. You don't want another sad boi draw at the Basin do you?

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Lol at everything being a conspiracy

 

[TheJediBrah]

Lol at everything being a conspiracy

Delusional victim mentality

 

[Spark]

Yeah, but I meant the Perth before Gabba. And Adelaide not being the starting test, even in the D/N avatar.

Adelaide has literally never been the starting Test, at least in the last 30 years or so. This has nothing to do with India, it's either Brisbane or (these days) Perth, principally for economic reasons. Adelaide doesn't need to bid for that first game because they don't need the "first game of the summer" drawcard to attract crowds.

 

[OverratedSanity]

It doesn't need to be some grand conspiracy for it to be true that NZ have never rolled out the kind of pitch they did for Australia in the first test to India. They're not obligated to of course. Watched the test, it spun a lot from day 1 and Lyon isn't even a side spin heavy bowler most of the time. Would be dishonest to believe Lyon and Maharaj have somehow spun NZ out on flat decks with no turn.

 

[Spark]

The only time I can ever remember Adelaide being the first Test in the summer was in 2013, and it's fair to say there were unusual circumstances that led to that happening.

 

[Spark]

It doesn't need to be some grand conspiracy for it to be true that NZ have never rolled out the kind of pitch they did for Australia in the first test to India. They're not obligated to of course. Watched the test, it spun a lot from day 1 and Lyon isn't even a side spin heavy bowler most of the time.

Oh it was like the perfect pitch for Lyon but if that was a tactic that they've been saving for Australia then they're idiots. I think what happened was that they let the pitch dry out far too much in the lead-up and massively overwatered it in the days leading up to the game, hence all the inconsistent bounce and seam we saw early, but the top drying out meant the surface underneath took a ton of turn.

 

[honestbharani]

@Spark - if your point is, this is the first time we are playing a 5 test series and therefore, with no other teams visiting, the tests are laid out like this, then its fine. I remember us playing Adelaide first in both our last two tours there.

And of course teams are not obligated to roll out tracks that turn. Its their prerogative to prepare whatever tracks they want. But it doesn't mean its not a fact that RSA and NZ especially, and Eng at times, have gone out of their way to ensure tracks do not assist spin even a little bit when India tours there. Its an important factor to keep in mind when doing biased spredsheet analysis to diss the Indian spinners like one poster keeps doing all the time every day here on CW.