What makes R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja a lethal spin combine

R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja make the most formidable spin tandem. The former, a classical off-spinner, is the supreme master of his craft, having earned his spurs as a thinking cricketer always looking to add to his repertoire. Jadeja, the orthodox left-arm spinner, is only slightly less skilled but like his senior colleague, he too is exceptional at using the crease, using the angles and using the uncertainty in the minds of batsmen unsure of what is the best way to play the turning ball.

Most-feared spin combine

Between them, the engineer from Chennai and the Rajput from Saurashtra have 706 Test wickets, of which a high proportion, 499 wickets (70.68 per cent), have come on Indian soil. When they play together, which they often do at home but only sporadically overseas because the conditions don’t necessitate playing two spinners, they pose different challenges that trouble and tease and torment and threaten the best in the business. When they come across a batting group timid and hesitant and caught in two minds about what the ideal course of action is, like the Australians in the first Test in Nagpur, they rouse themselves into destructive avatars.

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At the VCA Stadium last week, Ashwin (8) and Jadeja accounted for 15 of the 20 Australian wickets to fall during an innings drubbing. Jadeja did the damage in the first innings on the first day with a five-for on his international comeback. Ashwin hastened the end of the match with his 31st five-wicket haul on the third and final day. They hunted as a pack, each one feeding off the other while maintaining their individuality. Given how many apprehensions Australia harboured coming into the series, one of them on-song might alone have sufficed; with the duo competing for wickets and impact, Australia found all escape routes tightly sealed, and willingly embraced the humiliation that their abject capitulation so deserved.

What makes the duo shine? Expert weighs in

So, what’s it that makes this the most-feared spin combine in the world currently? How have they been able to be so good for so long? What’s the secret behind Ashwin’s record of 457 wickets in 89 Tests, or Jadeja’s 249 in 61? And more importantly, how can they be countered?

There are questions to which Sunil Joshi has ready answers. Himself a no mean left-arm spinner with 616 first-class wickets, Joshi played 15 Tests and 69 One-Day Internationals. A former spin bowling consultant of the Bangladesh national team, Joshi was a member of the senior selection panel until a couple of months back and therefore had a ringside view of the kind of work the spin twins, as he likes to refer to them, put in.

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“Knowing Jadeja and Ashwin very well, they have the best skill level, they have skill control and they have the consistency in putting the ball in the right places, where they want to, time and again,” Joshi tells The Federal. “That then becomes a habit for any spinner. Therefore, they will not find it difficult to adapt to any conditions, whether they play in India, in the subcontinent or in any other part of the world.

“The two things that help in India are the weather, and the pitch which will assist them. But even then, you must still know how to make a responsive pitch your ally. They have been doing it time and again. They both know exactly when to bowl quick, when to bowl slower, what pace is optimal for the surface on which they are playing,” Joshi said.

“Both use the crease very well, they use the angles very well. See how Ashwin set David Warner up in the second innings. He gave him two cover-drives with full balls outside off before getting one to slide on with the arm and trap him in front. It’s the same with how Jadeja dismissed Steve Smith in both innings and had Marnus Labuschagne stumped in the first innings. They used the angles very well because on a turning track, when you bowl from a different angle, the degree and the revolutions on the ball differ from normal. They keep asking the batsman a question every ball,” he added.

‘Positive mindset goes a long way’

Joshi throws light on the pros of having two attacking spinners operating in tandem. “Both are very positive, they don’t get worried about being hit or anything,” he points out. “When you have the mindset of attacking, you don’t mind the odd boundary here and there. That’s what makes them very formidable. They have been bowling day in and day out for so many years, they have years of practice under their belt. For the last five months, Jadeja has been out of the game, waiting like a hungry tiger. The moment you let him in, he was determined to leave his mark. More than anything, both have the willingness to work hard and the desire to succeed,” he said.

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“Ash is past 450 wickets, it’s a landmark for any spinner, I feel so happy about it. Jadeja has almost 250 wickets, and not many have gone past 250. My mentor, Bishan Bedi, also had 250-plus (266) wickets, but he played more Tests (67) than Jadeja (61). I am not here to compare, I am here to appreciate what they have done and how they have contributed to make India win. When you have skill control, you can always adapt to a situation; both have the advantage of being attacking as well as semi-defensive, depending on the need.”

Tips for Australia: Play the ball, not the bowler

Joshi, who played for the country alongside Anil Kumble, India’s leading wicket-taker with 619 scalps, has a ready answer for what Australia can do to counter this deadly duo. “Stop overthinking,” he says with a chuckle. “Stop overthinking and over-judging the wicket and pre-deciding what should be done and what should not be done. Look at how we (India) reacted after being bowled out for 36 in Adelaide on the last tour. No matter how the pitches might play, you have to be positive. You need to be mentally strong. If you are think you are going to get out and not be able score runs, that’s a negative way of thinking. Play the ball, not the bowler. Rather than playing the names, you should be playing the ball.”

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