Ravi Shastri on Ashwin Retirement: Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri explained what made recently retired all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin such a special player. He said he wanted to evolve with time and learn “new tricks” that would help him achieve greatness. Ashwin bid farewell to his illustrious career at the end of the Gabba Test and left behind a rich legacy as one of India’s greatest match-winners. Shastri was on hand to witness those match-winning efforts in his role as India head coach and the 62-year-old spoke about the spinner’s special quality while speaking with host Sanjana Ganesan on the most recent episode of ICC Review .
“I think the most special thing for me was that he always wanted to develop,” Shastri was quoted as saying by the ICC. He said, “He was not a person who was satisfied with his beginning.” Ashwin was known for developing his game, working on the new ball and his action, even in the latter stages of his career. Shastri said, “He wanted to learn new tricks. He embraced it, worked hard on it and continued to look for new things as his career progressed, so as to keep pace with the times.”
“His legacy will be a great match-winner, great records, 537 wickets. I mean anybody with 500-plus in Test cricket is special,” Shastri said. Shastri also pointed to Ashwin’s improved statistics over the decade, with the bowler taking 175 Test wickets at an average of 21.18 (better than his career average of 24). Shastri said, “And the way he has done it during his tenure, especially when it came to bowling in the last four or five years, I think in India, with (Ravindra) Jadeja, they were a fantastic pair, The real spin twins,” said Shastri.
The former Indian all-rounder said that the spin pairing with Jadeja meant that both supported each other in their quest to take wickets. “They complemented each other and inspired each other, so I would say that in the last five-six years, a lot of Jadeja’s wickets have come because of Ashwin and vice versa,” Shastri said. This can be seen from how Ashwin and Jadeja’s averages improve when they play together, falling from 24 and 24.05 to 22.32 and 20.91 respectively.
Concluding, Shastri praised the off-spinner and said that his similar record against left- and right-handed batsmen (269 wickets of right-handed batsmen and 268 wickets of left-handed batsmen) shows that the opponent and his style of play. How good was the other spinner. Shastri said, “For me it was his cunning, his desire to excel in his craft and especially in the last two-three years, the way he bowled the ball in such a way that it fell on the batsman and bounced off him, That made him different.”
“You look at his record against right-handers and left-handers, it’s pretty much the same, which says it all. It didn’t matter to him who he was bowling against. You know, he was ready for it,” he said. In 106 Test matches for India, the great all-rounder took 537 wickets at an average of 24.00, with a best performance of 7/59. He has taken five wickets 37 times and ten wickets eight times in his Test career.
He is the seventh-highest wicket-taker overall in Tests and the second-highest wicket-taker for India after veteran spinner Anil Kumble (619 wickets). He has the second highest number of five wickets in Tests after Sri Lanka’s spin icon Muttiah Muralitharan (67).
