There is something magical about the figure ‘100’ in cricket. In Dharamshala this week, R. Ashwin and Jonny Bairstow play their one hundredth Test match, while in Christchurch it is the turn of Kane Williamson and Tim Southee to do so, each accompanied by loyal colleagues, supportive families, enthralled media and figure-hugging statisticians.
When Colin Cowdrey became the first to the mark in 1968, it had taken him 14 years. There was little fanfare. He was cheered to the crease by the Edgbaston crowd, later played with an injury and with Geoff Boycott as his runner, remaining unbeaten on 95 at the end of the day’s play.
“Cowdrey, in spite of a hampering injury, played one of the most accomplished and felicitous innings of his career…,” wrote John Arlott.
“It is not easy to play 100 Test matches,” Rahul Dravid, who has played 164, once said. “Test cricket is not easy. To be able to play one is great, to be able to play 100 is a fantastic achievement.”
A player with 100 Tests behind him has an impressive CV when it comes to being selected for an all-time team to represent his country. Would Ashwin find a place in an all-time India team?
Such selections cannot be based on figures alone, although Ashwin would walk in as India’s most successful off-spinner. They are not based on averages either (although Ashwin has the best among Indian spinners with over 100 wickets) or strike rates (ditto). There is also the conviction that contemporary bowlers have more tricks up their sleeve than those of an earlier vintage, thus giving them an advantage. After all, contemporary engineers know more than those of the 19th century, and most undergraduates in philosophy are better trained than Plato was.
By definition, therefore, Ashwin brings to his craft a wider range, a greater understanding (thanks to analytics) and even the necessary experimentation than, for example, Billy Bates, the 19th century offie who was the first Englishman to take a Test hat-trick and one of few to claim 14 wickets in a Test. Knowledge is one thing, and modern bowlers are being constantly fed the data, but the skill to act on the knowledge is another matter. That requires both something inherent and cricket intelligence, both nature and nurture. Ashwin has this by the bucketful.
Joe Root put his finger on ‘Ashwinness’ recently in a podcast saying Ashwin always tries to take wickets, not merely wear down the batter. This positive approach is special in the age of the T20.
It does not, of course, follow that a later generation automatically has the better players. This is no case for asserting that Bairstow is superior to Len Hutton because he came later and can play the reverse-sweep! Each is capable of doing something the other cannot. But Bairstow has more access to information, has played more formats and is likely to borrow from one to succeed in another.
Among the finest Indian off-spinners, from Ghulam Ahmed to Erapalli Prasanna and Srinivas Venkatraghavan to Harbhajan Singh, Prasanna had this combination of cricket intelligence and natural skill. Roughly half his 189 wickets were claimed abroad; Ashwin has played only 40 of his 99 Tests abroad as India often played only one spinner in those matches. Ravindra Jadeja bats left-handed and is a brilliant fielder and was thus preferred.
Ashwin, who has played all 59 home Tests since making his debut, has missed 24 away Tests.
In many ways, Ashwin stands alone. He is constantly experimenting, constantly pushing himself, and always fighting two battles every time he steps onto the field.
The first, to achieve victory for his team, and the second to push the limits of his craft. Others have bowled a version of his carrom ball flicked off the middle finger, but few have been as keen on surprising himself and discovering greater depths. Only Muthiah Muralitharan has claimed 500 wickets in fewer Test than Ashwin.
All this talk of statistics is a bit off-key; it is as if Ashwin does not exist beyond his numbers, as if his achievements have to be constantly buttressed by figures, with his away record making everybody uncomfortable.
The fact is, Ashwin ought to be a certainty in an all-time India squad. Let us applaud a modern master of the craft.
