The irony of being Ravichandran Ashwin
It was an innocuous tweet of a wife of a famous player about her daughter’s playful activities. Or was it? Many saw the post as a comment on Ravichandran Ashwin’s continued absence in the playing XI. But it’s hard to say.
The timing was interesting, though. It was for the fourth Test in a row that Ashwin was not included in the playing XI – at the time when he was world No. 2 in Test bowler rankings and world No. 4 in Test all-rounder rankings. That Ashwin was getting a raw deal didn’t need to be highlighted by Prithi, it was all too clear.
Ashwin is a mirror image of Virat Kohli when it comes to his passion for success and the will to fight. He loves to go out, take wickets, score runs and win matches for his team. Keeping him in the dressing room is like not allowing a racehorse to run. Long durations on the bench breed frustration in every player, but they may affect someone like Ashwin a bit more than the others.
Also, Ashwin is extremely expressive and eloquent. A couple of weeks ago, Ashwin posted pictures on his Twitter account where he was seen batting left-handed. Was that a sign of simmering frustration caused by a prolonged wait to get a match? It could be, because the spinner who has played all the four matches happened to be Ravindra Jadeja, a left-hander.
Captain Kohli has preferred Jadeja for his batting abilities. Jadeja is definitely a better batter than Ashwin. The numbers speak up for him. In fact, on some occasions in this series, Jadeja looked a better batter than some of India’s main batters. In the fourth Test, he batted at No. 5, ahead of Rishabh Pant and Ajinkya Rahane. He has more runs than both of them in the series.
