As fans across India come to terms with Ravichandran Ashwinretired, former head coach of the team Ravi Shastri paid tribute to the spinner. Shastri, who has worked closely with Ashwin, praised the veteran spinner’s willingness to move with the times and reinvent himself as per the demands of the game. Ashwin has long since ceased to be a traditional spinner, taking on different forms depending on the format he played, the surface he played on or the opponent he faced.
With Ashwin no longer involved in international cricket, Shastri believes that what made the Tamil Nadu-born spinner stand out was the effort he has put in to keep reinventing himself.
“I think what stands out for me is his desire to constantly improve. He was not a man who was satisfied with where he started,” Shastri told ICC Review.
“He wanted to learn new tricks. He pursued it, trained hard and kept looking for something new as his career progressed to keep up with the times,” he added.
Shastri also expressed his admiration for the way Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja formed a pair in the Indian Test team, especially in subcontinental conditions.
“And for him to do it in his time and the way he did it, especially when it came to bowling over the last four or five years, I think in India with (Ravindra) Jadeja, I think they were a terrific pair, real spin twins,” Shastri said.
“They complemented each other well and pushed each other, you know, so I would say a lot of Jadeja’s wickets in the last five-six years have come because of Ashwin and vice versa,” Shastri said. .
“For me, it was his cunning, his desire to excel at his craft and (especially) in the last two or three years, the way he took the ball into the road, took it off and made it come down on the batsman. the drift made him stand out,” Shastri said.
“And you look at his records against right-handers and left-handers, you know, they’re very similar, and that’s about it. It didn’t matter to him who he bowled against. this,” he added.
Topics mentioned in this article
Leave a comment