The Madras Turnado
10:45 AM. 17th September, 2020. It is that day again. One of my heroes turns a year older, and a year wiser.
A younger me would’ve been up at 12.00 AM, hoping to be the first to tweet him a “Happy Birthday” as the clock strikes 12. Well, I’ve gotten older as well. I drift to sleep before midnight, wake up late and realise the significance of the date as I sip my coffee to get my engine uncluttered and started.
Growing up as a fan, growing up as a person while your favourite athletes go about their life is surreal. You jump with joy when you watch them succeed, you curl up in your feelings, rant and defend with all your might when they’re going through a rough patch. In some ways, you seek solace in the joy you get from watching them play, and sometimes, they deliver when you’re down, when you need something to smile while you figure things out. Hey, sometimes watching them strategize gives you a new perspective, a new insight.
It all started with “The Hindu”. The first one to always read the newspaper, I’d take the days edition of “The Hindu”, flip it over like a dosa and open the sports page. It was there that I started noticing the name R.Ashwin. As years roll by, I’d regularly start watching him play, with the IPL giving us a closer look at some of the domestic cricketers. Excited kids we were, going to school very early just so we can sit around and talk about cricket. Bantering about the teams we supported, the squads we had and a post match analysis of the game that took place the night before. We all read up on Ashwin, the local lad who could bowl the carrom ball like Ajantha Mendis. Some said that he picked it up while watching Mendis bowl in Chennai. We came to know later that he learned it from a guy known as “SK”, while playing tennis ball cricket — an evidence of where his street-smart strategies sprouted from.
The fanboy in me grew with each match. With an action that resembled a bartender making a cocktail while trying to dance to a Bollywood tune at the same time, Ashwin would run in to bowl over after over for CSK and Tamil Nadu. With the India debut coming soon, I was screaming within for Ash. Could he be the local Chennai boy to make it to the international stage and make it big? He was already well on his way to do that! Bowling to the likes of Gilchrist and Gayle, guys who’ve dominated world cricket, he more than held his ground. Picking up Gayle’s wicket in the final, the celebration, bowling alongside Jakati and later Jadeja, the excitement of watching him in action was unreal. The Champions League performance for CSK in South Africa, the 2011 Cricket World Cup and then the Test debut series against the West Indies. The man was on a roll, almost machine-like.
In retrospect, I maybe shouldn’t have celebrated the fact that he scored his maiden Test Century before Virat Kohli did but what do I say! Basically, I’m an Ashwin fanboy (if you get it, you get it). And then the 2011 tour of Australia happened. He bowled a lot on the middle and leg line. Experts were criticising his bowling while on the other side, Nathan Lyon was playing his role better. Was it possible he could get dropped. Legends like Erapalli Prasanna and Bishan Singh Bedi would go on to talk about how he needed to hold on to his stock delivery, why its essential for a spinner to trust his stock delivery. The fan in me was mad. “He knows what he’s doing! Y’all were silent when he was picking up wickets with the same variations!” I harped back at anyone and everyone criticising him.
Time moved slower with his dip in form, trotting its way to Champions Trophy 2013. The Indian team was hounded by the media with questions on “match fixing” and betting post the CSK Fiasco. There were heaving doubts about the Indian team going anywhere in this tournament. But, India would go marching on to the finals, Shikhar Dhawan was having the time of his life. Wielding his willow like a Gladiator, opening alongside Rohit Sharma who had found another new lease of life, the batting was phenomenal. The day of the finals, rain curtails both innings. Defending a meagre target, Umesh Yadav steams in, Alaistair Cook edges, and Ashwin moves a bit and takes the catch at slip. “Bucket hands Ashwin” goes the commentator. Ashwin comes on to bowl at a time when India was in a small spot of bother. That final definitely must rank as one of his best crunch game performances of all time. Like a sculptor finessing his work, Ashwin seemed to have had the ball on a string for all we know. India defies England, they wear their white Blazers, and Dhoni adds yet another trophy to his cabinet.
For some reason, despite bowling well, he was dropped midway through the test series in South Africa after not picking wickets. Onwards and upwards, one hoped. The tour of Australia was set to begin.
The day of the first test. Adelaide. Drop-in wicket. Stand in captain Virat Kohli chooses Karn Sharma over Ashwin. Lyon wreaks havoc while Karn Sharma doesn’t have the same impact despite the pitch behaving like a turner. Ashwin would make his comeback and go on to have a good series. This series had so much in contrast to the 2011 tour that one wondered if he had finally gotten bored of the carrom ball and the negative middle and leg line. He’d go on to have a stellar campaign, 13 wickets in 8 matches supporting one of India’s best fast bowling performances in 50-over World Cup 2015.
Post the World Cup, he was making the process of racking up wickets and steamrolling batting lineups look so casual, leading to his rightful ICC Test Cricketer of the Year 2016 and ICC Cricketer of the Year 2016 awards. The stock delivery and the lines mentioned by Mr.Bedi and Mr.Prasanna were what he bowled. Ashwin had experimented enough and had ended up following the same lessons that the members of the legendary quartet had spoken about back in the years. Has Ashwin finally stopped experimenting, the attempts to bowl legspin and its variations and experiment like the mad man he is shelved?
Nope. Rumour has it that he bowled in a first division game using his left arm. He even bowled left handed on the eve of India’s first pink ball test. He continues perfecting his leg breaks. He continues to play around with his grips, tries to bowl a reverse carrom ball. Like a kid moulding clay, he keeps playing with his drift, his grips, his loading.
In a dynamic world where the sport is constantly changing and things that are great and unique one day become an overused fad the very next day, Ashwin is a nomad who has gone where cricket has taken him.
It’s fascinating to watch him talk about the game, about his limitations and his experiments. The lessons I’ve learnt growing alongside his cricket while watching him go about his trade from afar are valuable and continue to put a smile on my face.
I hope the day is far away, but I hope the day comes when I’m watching his final game of cricket as a player. The stands filled with crowds to do justice to his legacy in the game. Some cheering a great career, and some still jeering with the Mankad calls. The claps get louder. His teammates yell “come on Ash” as he marks his run up in a muddy jersey one last time. The last delivery in his glorious career. And he runs in with the ball in his left arm to bowl an inswinger. One final surprise in a career filled with variations and experiments, he takes a final bow, and goes “that’s all folks”.
Wishing you a belated happy birthday, Ashwin!
