Ashwin ~ the Scientist of Cricket !

It is September yet looks like midsummer (of bad dreams) in Chennai. Generally it is a rainy season, and the logic to have a Test match here at this time is questionable.  Yet – the match was not affected by rain and did not last beyond 4^th day lunch

 

How well do you know philosophy or admire great thinkers ?   My adored one young at 38 stood tall on this count too, today !! – we have loved to see him bowl, enjoyed his batting and .. .. rever him when he speaks !! 

India started the day needing six wickets to win, but were denied at the start. The first hour, although  probing was wicketless – then came local lad Ravichandran Ashwin scripting a familiar expected, much wanted story. 

Bangladesh were bowled out for 234 ! – beaten by 280 runs – Ash had figures of   21-0-88-6.  Conveniently leave out why India did not enforce follow-on – since India won, no blame to Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir for this !!! 

R Ashwin completed his fourth double of a hundred and a five-for in the same Test - and his second in successive Tests at Chepauk - to take India to a 1-0 series lead against Bangladesh on the fourth morning in Chennai. Ash rightly was the Man of the Match.  In course of his 6 wicket haul, he went past Courtney Walsh becoming the 8^th top in all time list of wicket takers.  That elite list is Muthiah Muralidaran 800, Shane Warne 708; Jimmy Anderson 704; Anil Kumble 619; Stuart Broad 604; Glenn McGrath 563, Nathan Lyon 530 & Ravichandran Ashwin 522. 

He has now 37 – 5 wicket hauls in an innings equaling legendary Warne, next only to Murali.  He is 2^nd in ‘double’ of a century and 5 wicket in an innings in the same test.  Ian Botham had 5, Ash has 4, Gary Sobers, Mustaq Mohammad, Kallis, Shakib Al Hasan & Ravindra Jadeja all have 2.  

Originating from the Greek words meaning “love of wisdom,” philosophy can be considered the study of knowledge, existence, and reality. Philosophers’ ideas circulate around ethics, nature, aesthetics, metaphysics, being, logic, knowledge, and theory.  The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the Greater Philosophers is a 1926 book by Will Durant, in which he profiles several prominent Western philosophers and their ideas, beginning with Socrates and Plato and on through Friedrich Nietzsche.   

The post match interview in News 18 was so enjoyable.  Ash spoke to the panel of Abhinav Mukund, Parthiv Patel & Tamim Iqbal.  For the uninformed in that test no. 1997   at Kingston, June 2011, Mukund debuted alongwith Praveen Kumar and .. .. .. Virat Kohli.    

Some of the pearls enjoyed as Ashwin spoke :

·        On his partnership with Jadeja, over the years it is not any competition – as one ages, one matures, it is more of enjoying each other

·        When Mukund reminded him as a fast bowler (he was) – probably a pale shadow seeing the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, whom I see and enjoy standing at midwicket

·        As one matures, one learns not to hold things too tightly and let them go.  Don’t have too much of aspirations and enjoy the moments

·        He is renowned to be ‘too much of a thinker’ – today he said, his recent sting in TNPL helped his mindset in batting

·        .. .. .. and – he thinks like a bowler when he bats – thinking of what would upset the bowler and the like .. .. .. and a little later, they quipped, he thinks like a batter when he bowls. 

That is Ashwin for us – an extraordinarily talented Cricketer, genius of a person, a philosopher & Scientist – modern day Einstein of Cricket.  He is fast thinker and knows all rules, nuances of Cricket laws and playing conditions.   Wish Ravichandran Ashwin reach 700 wickets sooner and also make more than 5000 test runs by that time.

 
With regards – S Sampathkumar
22.9.2024