Venkata Raghavan, Erapalli Prasanna, and Bishan Singh Bedi… the legendary trio that showcased the quality of Indian spin to the world in the first generation!

Then Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh… the pair that made Indian spin shine brightly in world cricket!

With those two leaving one after the other, there is concern among fans that India’s spin coffers are suddenly emptying!

Just then, a man arrived. His step, picking up the baton that seemed to be falling, wrote another golden chapter in the history of Indian spin. It left an indelible mark on world cricket.

That name that cricket history remembers… Ravichandran Ashwin!

Kangaroos come to India .. Safaris come.. English team come.. anyone has to get caught in his net! The mystery of his balls makes the opposing batters dance at the crease! He is an off-spinner by name.. Once the ball is caught in his hands, it can turn in any direction. If it wants to spin inward, it can go outward. A ball that looks like it will go outward can also go inward. Sometimes, instead of just spinning, it can go and kiss the wickets. You never know what secrets he can do with his hands and fingers. The great batsmen are the ones who have raised their hands in surprise at his bowling! With this magic, he has made Team India unable to turn around on their own soil along with Pushkaram.

After losing to England in 2012, the Indian team has never lost a series at home until the recent defeat by the Kiwis. Ashwin’s role in this victory journey is very crucial. There are countless headlines in the newspapers saying ‘Ashwin’s triumph.. India’s grand victory’. Ashwin taking five wickets in an innings and ten wickets in a match.. Team India achieving a grand victory.. Ordinary things!

Ashwin has a knack for surprising the opposing teams’ spinners by performing magic on the pitch itself! However, after such dominance during the Pushkara period, he could not do this magic in the Test series against New Zealand. The result was a whitewash for Team India! His failure made Ashwin think about it. Now it has made him decide to retire. Except for this one series, Ashwin’s role has been crucial in many of India’s amazing victories at home.

Changing.. Learning: Ashwin’s career has not been without ups and downs. After a few years, it is natural for any bowler to be easily outplayed by the batters. Ashwin also faced this problem. After joining the Indian team, there were criticisms that his bowling had become less sharp three or four years ago. Batsmen started facing him with ease. It was at such a time that Ashwin brought out the weapon called the carrom ball. It became the foundation of his long career. He also dominated the batters by displaying weapons like top spin and slider at the right time. After losing his place in the ODI and T20 teams, he reinvented himself and made a comeback.

That’s how the turn ‘turned’

Ashwin, who is retiring as one of the best spinners in the history of world cricket, is not known to many as he was not a bowler when he started his career. He was a specialist batsman when he played in the age groups as a teenager. He used to open for Tamil Nadu. He represented the team as a batsman along with Rohit in the Under-17 Asia Cup. His father’s dream was to see Ashwin as a top batsman. However, Ashwin’s inability to perform consistently as an opener and the fierce competition for batsmen in the Tamil Nadu Ranji team made him think. 

He found it difficult to get a place in the top order of the Ranji team, facing competition from batsmen like Murali Vijay, Badrinath, Dinesh Karthik, and Srikanth Aniruddha. In this process, he turned to spinner and honed his skills. Within two years, he got a place in the Tamil Nadu Ranji team. There, he showed his talent and got a chance in the Chennai Super Kings team in the IPL. After making his debut in the 2009 IPL and showing his potential, he entered the Indian team the following year. Having made his mark there too, Ashwin did not need to look back. 

Ashwin was a member of the Indian team that won the 2011 ODI World Cup. But he did not get much opportunity in that tournament. But Ashwin played a key role in winning the 2013 Champions Trophy. Ashwin’s performance was crucial in India’s unbeaten Test wins and becoming the world number one. Legends praise his cricketing brain. Commentators praise him for being a step ahead of the batsmen and reading their thoughts. Ashwin has never captained the Indian team, but he has always been a member of the captain’s team. Not only as a bowler, but also as a strategist, he is a big support to the captains.

Carrom King

Off-spin means the ball is pitched off-side and goes inside the wickets. But what if the same off-spinner’s ball lands on the leg side and lifts the off stump? That delivery is definitely very special! That’s the carrom ball! Ravichandran Ashwin’s main weapon in the arsenal. Although this off-spinner tests the batters with many weapons.. the magic of the carrom ball is different. Sri Lankan spinner Ajantha Mendis first introduced this ball. But Ashwin used it the most.

He used to take out this ball especially to put the tailenders in the basket. If he used the middle finger to hold the ball and throw it to the leg side, it would turn and hit the off-wicket. Tailenders who were not strong in technique would fall over. He would tie up not only the last row batters but also the star players with the carrom ball. Not only that batter, but also the cricket world was shocked by the way he dismissed Hashim Amla in the 2014 T20 World Cup. Later, Ashwin showed dots to many top batters with the carrom ball.