NAGPUR: India's spin duo of R Ashwin (eight in two innings) and Ravindra Jadeja (seven in two innings) shared 15 wickets between them to demolish Australia in the first Test of the four-match series in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy on Saturday.
Ever since they joined hands during Jadeja's debut in December 2012 against England, their combination has helped the team win matches by the dozen. The pair has accounted for a cumulative 446 wickets in 44 matches so far.
They complement each other so well that their presence improves the strike rate of each other making them more lethal. Ashwin's overall strike rate of 51.90 improves to 50.80, a jump of more than a ball, when he has Jadeja for company. Jadeja's strike rate witnesses a huge improvement from 60.00 to 53.40 when the Chennai off-spinner takes the field with him.
Given their show, skipper Rohit Sharma was all praise for the Indian tweakers after the match."It's like captaining (Pat) Cummins, (Josh) Hazlewood and (Mitchell) Starc in Australia. Pretty similar. When you have the quality of Axar (Patel), Jadeja, and Ash, having played in India for so many years, playing on pitches like these, it's always a blessing," Rohit had said on Saturday.
"Pitch conditions are there for everyone but what they extract from those conditions make them really, really special. They have played on these pitches a lot and they know which areas to hit, how to keep applying that pressure," he added.
The duo's artistry with the ball means the offie and the left-armer have become one of the most-feared bowling combinations in the world. Their exploits in the field also mean they are fast racing to surpass the duo of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, who had taken a combined 501 wickets in 54 matches, to become India's most successful bowling pair. On their way to glory, they will also leave behind another Indian pair of Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan, who bagged 474 wickets in the 59 matches they played together.
If one goes by their form, especially in the sub-continent, they will soon overtake the Sri Lankan pair of Muttiah Muralitharan and Sanath Jayasuriya to be the world's most successful spin duo while playing together. The players from the Island Nation had taken a cumulative 667 wickets in 90 matches. However, Muralitharan with 584 scalps holds the major share of that combined effort, which is not the case with Ashwin and Jadeja.
While replying to a query on the secrets behind Ashwin's success, the senior between the two, Rohit said: "A lot of cricket and overs have gone into skills and being able to do what he is doing now; to be able to extract something out of pitch, it is not easy. He can bowl that carrom ball, top spin and slider. The guy has got everything. The reason he is able to extract (so much) from the pitches is because of (the) skill-sets that he has. He is a very studious guy and likes to understand his game and take it to the next level."
With them in the ranks, India's win/loss ratio increases drastically. Since they started playing together, India have played 99 matches winning 56, losing 25 and drawing 18 with a win/loss ratio of 2.240. It improves to 11 if only the matches where the duo shared the stage were taken into consideration. With them in the playing XI, India have won 33, lost 3 and drawn 8 out of 44.
The Indian captain, however, admitted, though jokingly, that it's difficult to manage when spinners of such quality are playing. "It's a little tough. They are all reaching their personal milestones. Jadeja was on 249 wickets and he was telling me, 'mere ko ball de' (give me the ball). Ashwin was on four wickets and he wanted a five-for and that was the challenge I was facing. I really don't know too much about milestones but these guys know about it, so yeah that's the challenge of captaining them rather than deciding which end to give them or not."
Numbers Game
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Duo's show together
Player Wkts 5-wkt 10-wkt
Ashwin 242 18 5
Jadeja 204 10 1
India's show with both in playing XI
Matches 44
Won 33
Lost 3
Draw 8
W/L 11
India's show since they came together
Matches 99
Won 56
Lost 25
Draw 18
W/L 2.24