Perhaps, the most striking aspect as Ravichandran Ashwin stood tall with the match ball in his hand— for the 37th time if you’re keeping track—was how inevitable it felt even at 10:00 AM. Ashwin started bowling slightly after 10:30 AM.
Many great cricketers exude a certain inevitability about their performances, whether it’s a century by a batter or a five-wicket haul by a bowler. Batters often have confidence-boosting shots early in their innings, signaling their dominance. Bowlers can convey their intentions within their first couple of overs.
Ashwin sometimes exudes this sense of inevitability even before he enters his bowling spell. Over the past 13 years, many travel plans have been adjusted in the knowledge that Ashwin would bowl in the fourth innings. This was the case on the fourth morning of the Chennai Test when the pitch offered consistent turn and bounce from the footmarks.
Ashwin wasn’t called to bowl until after the drinks break in the first session. Yet, it was hard to miss his presence on the field. As a gritty partnership between captain Najmul Hossain Shanto and veteran Shakib Al Hasan developed, there was Ashwin—making suggestions to Rohit Sharma or animatedly discussing field settings with Ravindra Jadeja in the middle of an over that neither of them was bowling.
The first hour felt like a prelude to the Ashwin show. And when he finally came on to bowl, it took just four balls and a strategic placement of the short-leg fielder slightly behind the left-hander’s eyeline to start tightening the noose around Bangladesh in the first Test. It was a dismissal that has become all too familiar, yet no less magical.
Shakib Al Hasan, trying to defend, failed to get forward enough to smother the bounce, resulting in the ball hitting the inside half of the bat, ricocheting onto his pad, and lobbing towards the fielder. Yesterday, another left-hander, Mominul Haque, also fell while trying to defend Ashwin on the front foot. On that occasion, a slowed delivery was angled into the left-hander, who, deceived by the drift, played inside the line of the ball only to see it turn and hit the stumps.
All of this is a roundabout way of suggesting that even in a sport with every data point logged, every movement registered, and every action hotly debated, some things remain largely inscrutable. Everyone has seen what Ashwin does for over 13 years, but virtually nobody seems to know how to counter it effectively.
For India, there is a glorious familiarity to these rituals now, a muscle memory in the team’s high-fiving celebrations. At the start of a 10-Test season, a period when they are chasing another World Test Championship (WTC) final, while different parts of their Test structure are in transition, Ashwin remains a priceless luxury.
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But it’s not easy for Ashwin. The grind of a Test match is demanding, and Ashwin, now 38 and fielding questions about his swansong, cannot simply hop from Chennai to Kanpur and back to Bengaluru, hoping to conjure his magic every time.
“It is a long season. But sometimes when you look so far ahead, it can be quite deflating. You are playing like 3-4 months of cricket and you are playing 10 Test matches. A lot of Test matches,” he mentioned in Chennai.
“So, sometimes you can’t think like that. You have to stack it up. I did put in a bit of work getting into it. I know I need to have some reserves in the tank. So, I have tried to build it up. We will have to see. There are good breaks between games. Hopefully, we will get small windows for me to keep ironing it out. More than skill, I think it is about physically being able and pliable to be able to go through the season which is of utmost importance for me right now.”
Ultimately, cricket, like the world outside, will always remain in a state of chaotic and unprecedented flux. Every passing week will bring new ruptures, new shocks, and fresh excitements. Teams will change, and new visionaries will emerge. But on days like this, it becomes clear why certain old habits, like Ashwin’s magic, retain a seductive allure.
As cricket evolves, witnessing Ashwin weave his web still brings a sense of stability and nostalgia amidst the unpredictable and ever-changing tapestry of the sport. The consistency and excellence he brings are not just performances but comforting rituals that gift moments of brilliance while the world keeps spinning in chaotic ways.