India's spin cupboard has been getting barer by the day ever since Anil Kumble retired from international cricket in 2008. Harbhajan Singh was looked upon to carry the torch forward, but on the contrary, his bowling has waned at a dramatic pace and he is nowhere close to the bowler he once was.
India rose to number 1 in Tests in the period between 2009 and 2011, but in contrast to the usual tradition, most of the Test wins were fashioned by pacers like Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma even in the sub-continent.
But things have changed again since the 2011/12 season; Zaheer Khan has been marred by injury concerns and Ishant Sharma is gradually going the Harbhajan Singh way, putting the spotlight back on spin. Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha are largely seen as the bowlers who will fill in the spin-void, and if the last season is any indication, it is Ashwin who will take up the role of the leader of the spin-attack.
Ask the TN offie about the challenges and responsibilities he could face as the frontline spinner, especially given his young age and relative inexperience in the international Test arena, and he responds saying he doesn't see the role as any additional pressure. "I have not looked at it as any kind of responsibility. I have just enjoyed what came my way.
I have never looked forward or looked back in my life. I think looking ahead for even just three months is a waste of time. That is the same approach I take to my cricket as well."
On Saturday, 18th August, around the same time when VVS Laxman announced his retirement from international cricket, Ashwin was at the Gurunanak College Ground in Chennai, practicing hard ahead of the Test series against New Zealand. While his Tamil Nadu team-mates were busy playing in the Buchi Babu tournament against Vidarbha, the 25-year-old was bowling for more than an hour in the nets outside the boundary rope.
The practice session did not end with the bowling burst in the nets; after a long spell under the sun, Ashwin was seen having an animated discussion about his bowling with a couple of senior coaches present there. His demeanor - both during and after practice - exuberated a keen intention to learn and at no point did it seem like a banal net session.
His chat with cricbuzz, which followed the training session, exhibited the qualities that have aided his quick and consistent growth; he was lucid in his thoughts and gave the impression of a man who knew his trade.
"Spin is like how you are interviewing me today; it depends on the scenario, on how the batsman is presenting himself, on how I am feeling on that day and on how I am able to toy with the batsman on that day. You don't get good control everyday but you have to live with that."
Ashwin made his debut for India in 2010, and although he found himself being in and out of the playing eleven for the first year in international cricket, he remained in the thick of things. He became a permanent fixture in the ODIs after the World Cup 2011 and soon grew to become the frontline spinner in all the formats. The three forms of cricket demand different adjustments to his bowling, but Ashwin's thoughts reveal his clarity of thought.
"I bowl with different actions in T20s and ODIs. Certain things demand that. In Tests, I should be equipped to land the ball at one spot for the entire day. It could be about the release or just landing it at the right spot. That is what Test cricket is all about."
When Ashwin burst into the scene after the IPL 2010, his variations were seen as mysteries, and as is the case with such spinners, there is an inherent danger of the 'mystery' wearing off with time. However, Ashwin seems not to go that way and constantly works on updating his variations, one of which he revealed in the IPL 2012; he calls it a doosra - a delivery which is a cross between the conventional wrong one and the carom ball which generates a lot more bounce than a normal top-spinner. He says that he will be focusing on the doosra and try it out in the series against New Zealand.
"The basic difference between a doosra and a carom ball is the line. That's why I tried and developed this doosra. But definitely the usage of that delivery is much lesser in an ODI game compared to a T20 game."
But the variations that were hailed in the initial stages soon became a subject of criticism when India went on a losing spree in Australia. In Ashwin's first tour down under, he was blamed for trying out too many things instead of just keeping it simple.
Ashwin understands the critics' school of thought but sticks to his guns and once again remains firm and clear in his views.
"I wouldn't bother about the criticism if it were about ODIs or T20s but if it's about Test cricket then the people who are saying this should have a closer look, because in Test cricket I don't use these variations at all."
Ashwin hints that much of the criticism arises due to the misconception that he grew only due to the IPL; his success in T20s even made people label him a limited overs specialist before he proved them wrong in his debut Test series against West Indies, where he picked up 22 wickets in 3 matches.
He credits his growth to his exposure in first class cricket and takes a lot of pride in his first class record (He has picked 165 wickets at an average below 30 and was also named the best bowler in his very first season in domestic cricket). He wants people to recognize this fact and not label him an IPL product.
"I have played first class cricket and I'm not a brand of the IPL. Experts don't see first class cricket"
India's Test wins have often been shaped by their strong batting unit. But now with the batting undergoing a transition phase due to the retirement of Laxman and Dravid, it is up to the bowlers to shoulder more responsibility.
With India set to play all of its Tests in the sub-continent for the next two years, a lot of focus will be on Ashwin and it will be interesting to see how he handles the challenges. The season ahead will be Ashwin's real test and will tell us if India has found its spin successor.
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