The choice for the “Player of the Match” award after the first West Indies-India Test match in Antigua ended on Sunday surprised quite a few. Most expected it to go to double-centurion Virat Kohli, but it went to Ravichandran Ashwin, who put in a supreme all-round performance, scoring 113 in the first innings and finishing with match figures of 7/126.
There was some redemption about Ashwin’s fantastic performance. Last winter, he was walking in the clouds. South Africa were bamboozled and befuddled by him. He merely had to turn up to take wickets. He finished 2015 as both the world’s top-ranked bowler and all-rounder in Test matches, a rare honour for an Indian cricketer.
Ashwin regains his groove
But what should have been a precursor to bigger and greater things came a cropper as 2016 rumbled on. As India switched to limited-overs cricket, things became problematic for Ashwin under captain MS Dhoni. Throughout the World Twenty20 for India and then for the Rising Pune Supergiants in the Indian Premier League, Ashwin was under-utilised, leading to questions over whether Dhoni had lost faith in the country’s best spinner.
It wouldn’t have been the best of times for the 29-year-old. Match after match, his effectiveness was being questioned. He would have much reason to feel hard done by, especially after doing so fantastically well in the last series.
But thankfully for Ashwin, the wheel has come full circle again. Back again in Test match cricket and under captain Kohli, the Tamil Nadu offie showed that he thrives off appreciation and acknowledgement. The captain put his faith in him when he promoted Ashwin up the order, above wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha, and the all-rounder paid that faith back gloriously, hitting some beautiful shots to get the third century of his Test career.
With the ball in his hand, though, Ashwin was back to his usual confident self. He might have gone wicketless in the first innings, but in the second he was remorseless. He ran through the West Indies middle order, reducing them from 88/2 to 106/6. His immaculate line and innate off-spinning instinct was back. Despite the unhelpful nature of the pitch, Ashwin kept the ball at a good length, always keeping the batsmen guessing about whether it would turn or not. His dismissal of Marlon Samuels was an example. The batsman had scored a half-century but he was all at sea, playing for the turn to a delivery which went past his bat and kissed the off-stump.
Shami overcomes the injury demons
It was not just the Ashwin show though. Another tale of redemption came from Mohammed Shami. The Uttar Pradesh lad, who plays for Bengal in the Ranji Trophy, has had a frustrating and long injury layoff. The worst part about it was that it came after a fantastic performance from him at the 2015 World Cup in Australia, where he was easily India’s best bowler.
The knee injury, however, took him out of cricket for that entire year and just when he thought he would make a comeback, things went awry again. He arrived in Australia in late 2015 for the limited-overs series, but had to go back again after picking up a hamstring injury. Similar circumstances followed him for the Asia Cup and World Twenty20: despite being picked in the squads, he had to return home as injury concerns repeatedly flared up.
Like Ashwin, it must have been a tough time for the pace bowler. But when he finally made his comeback in Antigua, he proved to the world what he brought to the Indian team. He generated steep and awkward bounce for the West Indies batsmen, finishing with 4/66 in the first innings. It was the perfect statement of intent from a bowler who showed that he finally shrugged off his injury demons.
To go in with three pace bowlers on a slow pitch was a risk. But as Umesh Yadav, another bowler who picked up a four-wicket haul in the first innings, said, it was largely due to the confidence that surged through each of them. This is a bowling attack that looks at ease with each other and is working perfectly in tandem. And in Ashwin and Shami, India have two bowlers who are out to prove a point.
Corrections and clarifications: This article has been edited to state that India played three pace bowlers in the Test Match. It was earlier erroneously mentioned as five.