Bengaluru Test: Has India’s over-dependency on Ashwin come back to haunt them?

‘We’ve got Ashwin.’

If there was ever a motto that accurately described the charge of the Indian bowlers in this home season, that would be it. Whenever, India needed a wicket, Ashwin was the man Kohli would turn to and more often than not, he would deliver. Sixty nine wickets in 11 games is testimony to that.

He was the go-to man. He was the world’s best. He could bat too. He even recently became the fastest bowler to the 250 Test wickets mark – beating Dennis Lillee’s record. He was quality and he had the numbers to prove it. But in the series against Australia, he has looked anything but fearsome.

Dare one say, he has looked clueless at times and tardy at others. But mostly he has looked frustrated. The Aussie batsmen have somehow managed to nullify the biggest threat in the opposition attack and they have done this on wickets that should have made him even more lethal.

A day of graft

Day two of the Bengaluru Test was more of the same. Just 197 runs were scored but Australia will consider it a good day’s cricket. They are now 48 runs ahead on a wicket that has helped the spinners as well as the fast bowlers… indeed, on a wicket that has made batting very difficult and that lead should worry India to no end.

Matt Renshaw batted beautifully, as did Shaun Marsh. They were patient, gritty and ready to graft – things that seem so alien in a T20 world that their value is even greater; like a black-and-white photo in a colour world.

Renshaw consumed 183 balls to get to his half-century, Shaun Marsh got there off 162 balls – their slowest Test fifties respectively. And Australia played 34 more overs than India to get a lead of 48 runs – they willingly submitted to the challenge and conditions, and survived to tell the tale.

But as good as the Aussie batsmen were, India will perhaps still be a little disappointed. Make no mistake, India’s bowlers stuck to their task admirably. They bowled a good line, were aggressive, gave little away and kept the pressure on the batsmen all day, but where were the wickets?

When the Indian team has the world’s top two spinners – R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja – in the line-up on a track that will clearly be classified as a turner, should it have got more?

Overbowling Ashwin

Perhaps, India’s over-dependency on Ashwin is now coming back to haunt them. You can’t keep him out of the game, but you can try and reduce the damage he does. Australia’s tactics have seemed unconventional but they have worked so far.

The Australian line-up has six left-handers, so conventional wisdom suggests that off-spinners have a greater chance of success against them. Still, Kohli might have been guilty of over-bowling Ashwin especially in light of how well and patiently the Aussies have batted against him.

The Aussies have accorded a great deal of respect to Ashwin. They have clearly studied his patterns and seem determined to not give him a wicket. For Ashwin, like Harbhajan Singh before him, is a rhythm bowler. One wicket means confidence and confidence means more wickets. But keep him on the back-burner and he can seem listless.

The Tamil Nadu spinner got the wicket of Warner early in the day, but by the end of the day he had bowled a total of 41 overs for no further reward. In India, spinners often do the bulk of the bowling, but how does one explain why Ravindra Jadeja was given just 17 overs. Even Ishant Sharma (23 overs) and Umesh Yadav (24 overs) ended up bowling more than Jadeja. They might tell you there was a plan but then it was a silly one.

Considering that Ashwin has been one of the top spinners in the world, it was a given that he would bowl a lot but the numbers seem very lop-sided.

In this series alone, Ashwin has bowled 103.5 overs, taken eight wickets at an average of 32.12 with a strike-rate of 77.8. Compare this to Jadeja – 74 overs, eight wickets, average of 23.50 and a strike-rate of 55.5. That is a difference of almost 40 overs and we’ve only played one-and-a-half Test so far.

The difference becomes even starker when you see how much the Australian spinners have had to bowl. The numbers seem more skewed because of India’s batting collapses. Nathan Lyon’s workload has been just 48.1 overs for his 13 wickets (avg 9.53) and Steve O’Keefe has bowled 49.1 overs for his 13 wickets (avg 8.46).

Among the main spinners, Ashwin’s average is the highest.

In this home season alone, Ashwin has already bowled 616.5 overs, again around 40 overs more than Jadeja who has a total of 578.1.

It’s just a thought, but have the Aussies sucked Kohli into a trap? Before the series, the workload of the spinners was comparable, but now it seems like the Indian skipper has not showed enough confidence in Jadeja. Too much thought being given to the old ‘how will the left-arm orthodox bowler be effective against left-handers?’

Now, one can be sure that Ashwin will bounce back, but will it be in time to save the series? Sometimes, it takes just a little mis-step to lose your way. But somehow, India needs it’s best bowler to rejuvenate himself and show Australia what he’s really all about… somehow he needs to find a way to be himself again. And the third day on the Bengaluru Test would be a good place to start.