Ind vs SLI LANKA: Ashwin scripts a gripping tale
Saturday afternoon, fans jumped at the opportunity to take
selfies and groupies with their favourite stars. Both India and
Sri Lanka were taking a chartered flight to Visakhapatnam
and the fellow passengers made good use of their 15-minute
wait before the departure call came. Away from the crowd,
Ravichandran Ashwin was having an informal chat with a
friend from the media. Only a few troubled him with autograph
or photograph requests.
At the ACA-VDCA Stadium on Sunday, as the off-spinner was
weaving his magic, 28,000 fans serenaded the captain of
the Indian limited-overs team with ‘ Dhoni -Dhoni’ chants. After
Ashwin finished his spell they clapped but a little more noise
and a standing ovation were expected. The 29-year-old
doesn’t top the popularity charts – his nerdy nature could be
a reason – but he is invaluable to the team. Time and time
again has he proved it in the last two years.
Dhoni: Consistency will give us confidence A bowling masterclass
Today, Ashwin produced an off-spin bowling masterclass after
Dhoni won the toss on a good pitch and decided to field. He
finished with 4 for 8 in four overs; best-ever by an Indian in
T20 cricket. In fact, Ashwin surpassed his own record; 4/11
against Australia in the 2014 World T20 in Dhaka. He bowled
first change in that game and bamboozled the Aussies to 86
all out. Here, he opened the bowling and all but finished the
game inside five overs. Caught in the ‘Ash-web’ the visitors
slumped to 82 all out. India’s 2-1 series victory became a mere
formality.
Opener Niroshan Dickwella, in for injured Chamara
Kapugedera, was Ashwin’s first; in the third ball of the
opening over of the match. It was a beauty, straight from an
off-spinner’s guidebook – nice loop to induce the Sri Lankan
opener to leave his crease and enough turn to take the ball
past the outside edge. Dhoni’s stumping was almost
contemptuous, waiting a while before dislodging the bails.
The veteran Tillakaratne Dilshan, with the task to shoulder a
mostly green set of batsmen, was removed in the final ball of
that over with a classical off-break. The ball turned sharply
from outside off and found him in line. The flight created
enough doubt in Dilshan’s mind to make his footwork tentative.
He was pinned down in front.
Ashish Nehra, who shared the new ball, was loose in his first
over, conceding a couple of fours. But Ashwin came for his
next over and dismissed Dinesh Chandimal. The Sri Lanka
captain charged down the track and attempted a
premeditated slog without noticing that the bowler had held it
back a little. Hardik Pandya took a dolly at wide mid-off.
Dhoni had already brought in a leg slip for his premier spinner
and Suresh Raina soon came into the equation, taking a catch
to get rid of Asela Gunaratne in Ashwin’s third over. The
debutant didn’t look happy with the decision but there was a
hint of a thin edge before the ball brushed his thigh pad on
the way to Raina. Ashwin’s first spell read: 3-1-5-4. Sri
Lanka were 20/4 after 4.2 overs.
From that point onwards, it was a one-way traffic. This
young Sri Lankan team lacked class and experience to fight
pressure. They choked. Nehra castled Milinda Siriwardana as
the latter tried to play a cross-batted heave to a length ball.
The score became 21/5. Ravindra Jadeja’s presence of mind
and underarm throw accounted for Seekkuge Prasanna,
when he, along with Dasun Shanaka, was forging some sort
of partnership. Shanaka, after hitting Yuvraj Singh for a
couple of sixes in an over, misread a straighter one from
Jadeja and dragged it on to his stumps. Sri Lankan lower-
order struggled even against Raina’s part-time spin, gifting him
two wickets.
After 13 overs, Ashwin came back to complete his quota. He
gave away three runs in his final over without a wicket. His
team-mates ran to pat him on the back. Dhoni nodded in
approval.
Not many months ago, the skipper had dropped him after a
couple of flat performances in the ODIs at the WACA and
the Gabba, in Brisbane.
Ashwin went Down Under on the heels of a fabulous year in
Test cricket that saw him rise to No. 1 in the ICC rankings.
But as the ‘away conundrum’ returned, he lost his place in
the XI. Jadeja’s better batting ability was taken into account
while playing with one specialist spinner.
From the T20s in Australia, Ashwin started to regain his
mojo. And he was outstanding in this series, finishing with nine
wickets from three matches at 3.88. Few doubts that he
would be India’s go-to man in the World T20. And opponents
would already have started plucking their hair out to devise
means to negotiate him.
In hindsight, India might have been benefitted with a decent
Sri Lankan total on the board. Both Yuvraj and Dhoni are
short of time in the middle. A victory target of 83 didn’t allow
India to experiment with the batting order. Shikhar Dhawan
and Ajinkya Rahane’s unbeaten 55-run second wicket
partnership took their side home with 37 balls to spare. The
batting blip in Pune now seems a distant memory.
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