After stagnating under MS Dhoni, R Ashwin eyes a fresh start under Virat Kohli

Sourav Ganguly and Harbhajan Singh. Graeme Smith and Dale Steyn. Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff. MS Dhoni and Ravichandran Ashwin – it was believed, at least.

Like the various captain and bowler pairs, who got along as if they were customised as per each other’s needs, Dhoni and Ashwin promised to be India’s star couple on the field.

International cricket was moody with Ashwin at the start of his career. While he was effective at home, he was almost invisible on foreign soil. The world questioned his selection. But Dhoni defied them all and backed his man.

With time, though, the equation changed. Victories had to be earned by Dhoni’s team. Abroad, they were even tough to earn. Ashwin could not find ways to find the decisive strikes, and Dhoni struggled to help him find it. Dhoni’s faith in Ashwin dwindled. Ashwin’s self-belief took a walk.

The off-spinner’s barren run in Tests outside India continued. But it was his inability to daunt the batsmen in the ODIs that hurt. By now, Dhoni had retired from Tests and was the One-Day International and Twenty20 International captain alone.

The split

Dhoni’s had decided that in ODIs at least, he had to look elsewhere for spin options. That he had done all that he could as captain to support Ashwin’s growth as a one-day bowler.

So, in early 2016, Dhoni dropped Aswhin. Dhoni had dropped his man. After just two ODIs in Australia, the off-spinner was left out.

Just when people thought it was a minor hiccup in their relationship, it reached boiling point when Dhoni did not trust Ashwin to complete his quota in the World Twenty20 semi-final against the West Indies. There was dew alright, but in a game of such high stakes and under immense pressure, one would bank on Ashwin more than the occasional medium-pace of Virat Kohli. Dhoni did not, and India crashed out of the World T20.

The pattern followed in the Indian Premier League. Dhoni would often underuse his Pune Supergiants teammate. The frustration Ashwin felt also came to the fore in one of the press conferences in the IPL.

By now, it was evident that the captain’s trust in his one-time strike bowler had faded. Ashwin was not picked for the ODIs against New Zealand. They said he was rested to manage the hectic Test summer. But when that is the only series apart from a brief one against England before the team heads out to defend its Champions Trophy crown, the non-selection could have had more to it than “resting” Ashwin.

It was no surprise then that Ashwin did not thank Dhoni after he won the ICC Cricketer of the Year and Test Cricketer of the Year. His tweet had then raised eyebrows.

In the meanwhile, however, there was another relationship that had developed. Virat Kohli and R Ashwin. They appeared perfectly customised as per each other’s needs.

Kohli gives Ashwin a fresh lease of life

Under Dhoni, Ashwin had stagnated. But the Indian Test captain brought him a fresh lease of life. The world questioned his selection, again. But, Virat not only backed Ashwin, he found ways for him to succeed.

Kohli set innovative fields, threw him the ball when the other bowlers had failed and when the world believed Ashwin would too and involved him in team strategies. Ashwin’s success started outside India, even if it were only in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and peaked in India. Amidst a series of Tests at home, Ashwin even stood out on the docile surfaces of the Caribbean.

Ashwin’s carried his regained confidence with the ball every time he walked out to bat. It resulted in a possible new Test number six for India.

Under Dhoni’s leadership, Ashwin had begun to be a desolate figure on the field. In Kohli’s team, he was the man around which all the action unfolded. He picked up wickets in a heap, he scored runs not many believed he could and he also took on the mantle of the vice-captain when Ajinkya Rahane was out injured.

On the field, the chemistry sparkled. When Kohli searched for answers, he had Ashwin to help him with them – either with the ball or with just words of advice. And if Ashwin wanted an extra fielder on the leg, an additional close-in catcher or any random field, Kohli would grant it to him. Kohli was Ashwin’s captain.

Ashwin too fought for his leader, with the ball and otherwise. When James Anderson questioned Kohli’s ability to score in England, he was handed a warm welcome to the pitch the next morning – Ashwin had a few words to tell him as he walked him to the wicket. Ashwin was Kohli’s first officer.

After Dhoni resigned as one-day captain and Kohli took over last week, the trust Kohli had in Ashwin in the Tests was now transferred to the one-dayers as well.

Ashwin had struggled for a place recently in Dhoni’s ODI side, and was not banked on in his T20I side. But he walked into both these sides to be helmed by Kohli. And with it, he could now be the Man in Blue around whom all the one-day action unfolds too.

Time for Ashwin to display his brilliance in the India blues

Ashwin may be the world number one Test bowler and all-rounder, but it is a fresh start for him in the one-dayers. It was under Kohli that Ashwin has been unstoppable in the Tests. It is under Kohli that he will hope for his one-day career to be resurrected. He could end up as one of country’s all-time great, but for that he will need to succeed across formats. And he will bank on Kohli to help him achieve that.

After Dhoni had stepped down as the one-day captain, Ashwin had praised his achievements. “If you ask if anyone could match or deliver his (Dhoni) level of achievement, it is going to be a herculean task, definitely it is not going to be easy.”

But at the same time, he had expressed immense happiness at the prospect of playing for Kohli.“It is going to be an exciting phase, it’s all about working out together hard and testing times...he is someone who looks out for suggestions.”

Ashwin’s brush with one-day cricket resumes now. Immediate start: the England series. Immediate goal: the Champions Trophy. Indian one-day cricket will be richer if Ashwin can stand there at the end of his run-up in the blues - like he is not ready for the ball, for the moment and yet deliver the most scientifically thought-out delivery and bamboozle the batsman like only an intelligent bowler like him can.

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