SPIN GENIUS

Inside the phenomenal rise of Ravichandaran Ashwin

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Ashwin can be infuriatingly articulate about every little aspect of his game. © Cricbuzz

It takes considerable all-round skill to be able to accurately mimic the two pillars of Tamil cinema, Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan. Most film fans from the southern states are divided firmly in their loyalty between these two actors. Like George W Bush once said, in a completely different context, 'either you are with us or against us'. But, as this video and this one reveal, R Ashwin is in that minority where there is no us or them, and, typically, he is not coy about it.

Before you close this window thinking you have strayed into an entertainment portal rather than your favourite cricket website, here is why that piece of innocuous trivia is relevant. It shows that Ashwin can be true to himself while stepping into someone else's shoes, if briefly. What makes Ashwin one of the most valuable cricketers to India at the moment is that the bowler in him can think like a batsman, anticipating what the opponent might be trying to achieve, and the batsman in him thinks like a bowler, anticipating ploys and avoiding traps.

It has been suggested that Ashwin, for his incredible strike rate of five-wicket hauls and growth into a genuine Test all-rounder, is not yet the finished article. While his staggering performances at home have been appreciated for what they are, there has been a churlish tendency to qualify this with the fact that he has not been able to replicate this in certain overseas conditions. Just England's vanquished cricketers still believe that Virat Kohli can only be properly considered world class when he makes a pile of runs in England. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is not dissimilar from suggesting that Don Bradman, the hungriest batsman ever to pick up a piece of wood, is less of a cricketer for having played in only two countries.

The key to understanding Ashwin's value lies in unlocking the many successful transformations he has gone through. Forget about beginning as a batsman who bowled a little medium-pace and transitioning into one of the most successful off spinners of all time, Ashwin has worked relentlessly on every aspect of his game. Blessed with a cricket brain that is ticking over constantly, Ashwin is also blighted by a physique that is not built for speed. Try as he might, putting in the hard yards in the gym, Ashwin is never going to be able to beat most of his teammates in a sprint. And he is the first one to realise this, which is why he has spent considerable time ensuring that he has a safe pair of hands when it comes to catching. And this is why he hired a personal coach to work on running between the wickets.

Talking technique with cricketers can be a dangerous pastime. Some, such as Virender Sehwag, will say they just see the ball and hit it, others such as Mahendra Singh Dhoni, will tell you it's not about how it looks, it's about getting the job done. Ashwin can be infuriatingly articulate about every little aspect of his game. From the time he starts at the top of his mark, builds momentum towards the crease, loads up, pivots and releases one his many different deliveries, every single action is the result of a process of refinement over a lifetime spent in cricket. It's choreographed down to the millimetre with an attention to detail that would make a ballerina proud. And then it is programmed into muscle memory through a process of repetition that puts the theory of 10,000 hours of perfect practice to shame.

When former cricketers, the thinking ones, sigh with envy and pleasure at a bowler's action, the one thing that comes up is how natural someone is, and how repeatable his routine is. What they mean, even if they don't often say it, is that it is incredibly difficult to make something look easy. When he is batting, Ashwin looks every bit the stylish Indian tall cricketer. His back-foot punches through square are a study in balance and weight transfer and when he clips the ball through the on side off his toes, there are shades of that most pleasing of all stylists, VVS Laxman. To be able to bat like this, in Test cricket, having been thought of as merely handy down the order or even a tail-ender, is testament to how seriously Ashwin takes this aspect of his game, and how much he loves staying at the crease.

Most cricketers will tell you that the most difficult thing about being a professional sportsman is learning when to concentrate -- Greg Chappell calls this fierce focus -- and realising when to switch off. A key aspect to this is turning your back on the thing you love the most when you are not doing it, enjoying a bit of down time to keep the mind fresh when you have to return to perform in a high-pressure environment. That is a bit like working as hard as you can during the week, waiting for Friday evening to let your hair down. It is what professionals do, it is how they cope. But, what if the one thing that puts you under the most pressure is also the release? Science puts this sense of achievement, this feeling of having done something worthwhile down to the release of oxytocin, serotonin, dopamine or any combination of such things that have demonstrable effects on very specific zones of the brain. For Ashwin, this fix does not come solely from achievements on the field. He watches more international cricket on television, when he is not the one the cameras are trained on, than most fans, he talks cricket to any former player he crosses paths with and, equally importantly, listens when they answer each of his curious questions. Rested from the Indian team not long ago, Ashwin's first reaction was to step out of his house and play cricket on the street with the kids who were indulging their passion. Not too much before that, Ashwin was playing one of Chennai's famous floodlight tennis-ball cricket tournaments with his old mates, releasing carom balls and ripping off breaks as though he was trying to win a game for his country.

Ashwin does not merely live cricket, he loves it. And, at the moment, it is loving him back. And there can be no better environment to set yourself up for success. Instead of chasing wickets and runs, Ashwin is living his dream. He is not focussing on the process, or putting the ball in the right areas, as cricketers insist they do. Ashwin is bowling each ball like it may be his last, in the full knowledge that every day is just another beginning. Ashwin is seeing every trip to the crease as an opportunity to bat and bat, knowing full well that his bowling may ensure that he gets only one innings in each Test. Ashwin is more than obsessed with cricket, and is a consummate professional, but he has not forgotten that it was something he took to for the sheer joy that it gave him.

Not long ago, Ashwin was left out from the Indian Test XI for inferior bowlers who played out their captain's fantasy of a hunch. He could have settled into a spiral of self-doubt and, more dangerously, self-pity. Instead, he quietly made himself invaluable to the team. And now, having enjoyed the best year of his career, and all the trappings that come with it, the awards and the rewards, the world is his oyster. It's no wonder then, that the pearls are revealing themselves unbidden, but certainly not unwelcome.

© Cricbuzz

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