SPIN WIZARD: Ashwin!!

As I watched Shane Warne and Muttaih Muralitharan weave their magic around bamboozled batsman in cricket matches, I wondered if I would witness anyone would bowl off-spin, leg-spin, flippers, carrom balls with drift, under/over spin on pitches conducive or not, I finally found my answer in our very own namba ooru payan (hometown boy): spin wizard Ashwin

Career Highlights

• As Ashwin dismissed the universe boss, Chris Gayle (in the form of his life) in all the important IPL final of 2011, it cemented his arrival onto the big stage.
• Ashwin bowled the final over of the famous win in Champions Trophy to bring India to a full circle of world cup wins of 2008, 2011 and 2013.
• Ashwin was at his absolute peak when he bamboozled batsman in the 2014 Aussie tour of India which India thrashed the visitors 4-0, courtesy a ‘home-work’ gate scandal.
• Ashwin stood strong when he ran out Jos Butler, as the batsman backed up too far in a crucial IPL match, creating a media/social media uproar. Thanks to his actions, MCC/ICC have officially changed rules to deem run-outs official if batsman back-up too far.

 

But my absolute favorite, was a simple play that occurred 2 years ago in Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). As Virat Kohli played a magical innings it was left to Ashwin to face the last ball of the T20 innings with 2 runs to get. Any normal batsman would have tried to hit it out of the park. However, our scientist-batsman Ashwin just side-stepped a ball going down his pads to get a wide, level the scores and reduce the blood pressure of 1.5 billion people while calmy lifting the next ball over mid-off to secure one of the memorable wins over Pakistan in that T20 match.
 
 
With 537 test wicket, over 700 international wickets to his name and 11 man of the series awards, Ashwin’s place is right up there with the best who have played this beautiful game. Coming from my own school in Chennai, Ashwin is now a legend in his own way. We wish Ashwin a great innings off the field and as many of his kutty stories go on his youtube channel go: it is never an end, always a beginning.