Filling Ashwin’s shoes will be a big challenge
Ravichandran Ashwin’s retirement announcement came out of the blue. Not that it was unusually surprising for a cricketer aged 38. But the venom has not yet left his bowling, especially in home conditions. As we have come to expect from Ashwin, he did not want to be part of a tour as a tourist. So, aptly enough, a senior player who played cricket on his own terms also decided to retire on his own terms. His illustrious career ended with 537 wickets in 106 Tests—the second highest lifetime haul for an Indian bowler. Six Test tons are also etched against his name. All these made him one of the chief architects of India’s home Test record between 2012 and 2024.
Yet, the way he announced his retirement did create a stir. Ashwin’s mid-series announcement and return to India sparked a debate on whether he did it the right way, or should he have been given a ‘farewell Test’. The latter seemed a bit superfluous given that the last cricketer who got a proper farewell Test was Sachin Tendulkar in 2013. Even if there was to be one at home for Ashwin, it would have been at least nine months away. With a packed international calendar till then and the IPL in between, it would have been difficult to organise one.
There are other pressing matters right now for the team. First, they have to find an able successor to Ashwin, who transformed the craft of spin-bowling into an art. Washington Sundar is there in the squad; but purely in terms of skills, filling in Ashwin’s shoes will not be easy. Finding an off-spinner—a breed slowly becoming a rarity—will not be easy. There are not many in the domestic circuit who could come close to the veteran. Jalaj Saxena is 38, Jayant Yadav is 34 and the majority of the wicket-taking spinners in Ranji Trophy are left-armers. One young spinner who can be slowly moulded is Tanush Kotian of Mumbai—at 26, he is poised to replace Ashwin for the remainder of the series. Whosoever comes next, he will be compared with the likes of Harbhajan Singh and Ashwin. To succeed, the bowler has to have exceptional qualities and the even rarer trait—temperament.