AUS vs IND: Ashwin rules out comparison with Lyon, calls it 'out of context'

Playing his first test of this year, a lot was stacked against Ravichandran Ashwin while a lot of India’s chances of getting to a good total were riding on his bat at the end of day 1. As it turned out, the day started on a horror note for him and India. It was the wicket of Ashwin, undone by a jaffa from Pat Cummins, that prevented tourists from reaching a total they had hoped for at the end of first day’s play. Ashwin could not be blamed for the collapse of the lower batting order as it was beyond his ability to contain Cummins in full rhythm. India’s long tail was exposed and their vulnerabilities were capitalised on by the Australian bowlers.

Although Ashwin has good batting credentials, a lot more was riding on him when the team walked out to the field and prevent the Australians from marching ahead with the game there and there, Ashwin put his hands up and made his performance count for the team as the hosts got bundled out for 191.

Australian spinner Nathan Lyon had got assistance from the pitch on the first day and a similar performance was expected off Ashwin when he was brought into the attack, when the best Australian batting pair of Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith were at the crease.

Ashwin enjoyed the big wicket of Smith and celebrated vigorously and, at the end of the day’s play, he outlined the value of Smith’s wicket in the context and phase of the game.

"With regards to the wicket of Steve Smith, obviously it's a big wicket. You know how much time he bats. In the context of the game, and where it was placed, I felt it was a really important wicket so I really enjoyed it,” Ashwin said on his efforts to dismiss Smith with a delivery that went on with the arm and flummoxed the Aussie batting wizard who was waiting on the backfoot for it to turn into him.

Ashwin had seen Lyon getting overspin on the ball to trouble Indian batsmen on the first day but backed his own game and his own set of skills to get the better of Steve Smith, that too in his very first over. There have been discussions about the similarity in skills and dissimilarity in the style of his bowling with that of Lyon’s. But the off-spinner called all those discussions ‘out of proportions.’ He said that his approach to bowling is different from Lyon’s and that he relies more on consistency with tight line and lengths to control the flow of the game in order to induce false shots out of batsmen.

"At times things can get blown out of context on how one approaches their trade. Even in this particular Test, Nathan and I bowl very differently. We are different bowlers and successful in our own way. For me, it's not so much about the trajectory. It's about trying and changing it up and trying to making it difficult for the batsman to be able to defend or score,” Ashwin added.

He also came hard at suggestions that he should watch and learn lessons from Lyon on how to bowl effectively on Australian pitches. He said that expectations of players replicating one another with respect to different playing conditions are unfair expectations to make. 

"Nobody asks batsmen to go and watch how Steve Smith bats and replicate that all the time when we tour Australia. Nobody does that to Alastair Cook or Joe Root the way they play. We are all aware that everybody skins a cat very, very differently. You can learn, there's no stoppage to what you learn from people. You can always learn all the finer things, how they go about their business, how they set their fields, the passage of play,” Ashwin added while weighing in the thoughts about how differently he approaches a game than many other spinners like him.

Ashwin ended up being the most successful bowler for the Indians on day two, picking up four wickets that included prized scalps of Travis Head and Cameron Green, apart from the most important wicket of Smith in the middle session. However, Ashwin is not going too far ahead with his successful outing on day 2 and insisted that his role in overseas Tests is to hold one end up to give the captain breathing space where other bowlers such as the pacers can be rotated around. He fulfilled that role perfectly as he bowled continuously from one end in the session between the dinner break and tea interval while Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami kept charging in from the other end.

"When you are playing abroad, my mindset is to just hold one end up and allow the captain to rotate fast bowlers from the other end. I also go for wickets if there is enough assistance or enough early wickets. For me it's all about making it as difficult as possible for the batsman," Ashwin added.

Although Ashwin’s role was to hold one end up, the wickets he picked brought the momentum in India’s favour and the Aussies could not quite get back the flow of the game in their favour. Now, India have a lead of 62 runs and nine wickets in hands. He would hope that batsmen would be able to replicate the resistance they put forward in the first innings and also translate those into big innings to set up a big total for the hosts to chase. Australia will bat last on this pitch and deep down in his wise head, Ashwin would be the first one to know that in the second innings, his role will not be limited to holding one end up, rather he will have to match his first innings performance if not better it if India have to win this crucial first test to start off the series on a dominating note and put all the pressure they were under onto the host Australia. 

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