“I haven’t thought so far ahead, but if this was my swansong, what a swansong!”

R Ashwin has always had a way with words. He is almost as felicitous verbally as he is with bat and ball, but even he was taken aback momentarily when asked, minutes after being declared Player of the Match in a Test for the tenth time, if this was potentially his last outing as a Test cricketer at Chepauk, where he took his first tentative steps as a professional cricketer.

Quickly recovering his wits, he spoke of the challenges of playing Test cricket, of not taking anything for granted and stressed that his focus had shifted in the last few years from numbers and individual accomplishments to rediscovering the joy of playing the game for the sake of it, of enjoying himself, of pursuing excellence but also happiness. From all indications, Ashwin is in the same ‘happy space’ that he cultivated post the pandemic. He is now five days past his 38th birthday but he is as fit and fiercely driven as ever, as motivated to keep contributing to the team as he was in his first Test, more than a decade back.

That India is a batter-obsessed country is hardly a secret, but sometimes, perspectives are heightened by an outside voice. Making no effort to conceal his admiration for India’s ace all-rounder, a Bangladeshi journalist reflected on the inequity on the part of the average Indian fan. “Look at everything Ashwin has achieved,” he said, “and look at the numbers on the jerseys that the fans wear to the ground. There’s No. 18 (Virat Kohli), there’s No. 45 (Rohit Sharma), maybe the odd No. 7 (Mahendra Singh Dhoni, retired from Test cricket for a couple of months short of a decade), but I can’t see anyone wearing No. 99. And that too in Chennai. How can that be?”

Kumble suffered a similar fate

That’s how it is in India, unfortunately. Even when Anil Kumble was wheeling away, with little support, year after year on his way to an Indian record 619 Test wickets, he seldom attracted the same adulation and mass adoration as a Sachin Tendulkar or a Virender Sehwag, a VVS Laxman or a Rahul Dravid. Such is the lot of the Indian bowler that even if he picks up all ten wickets in a Test innings, like Kumble did against Pakistan in 1999, he is often an afterthought, a footnote. Batting milestones are revered, batters are worshipped, but 10 for 74 generally slides by. As if it is commonplace.

If Kumble was bothered by all that, he hardly uttered a word. Ashwin is a little more vocal but seldom does he complain about not getting his due. He knows his numbers speak for themselves, he is content with the respect and the awe in which his teammates hold him. As for the outside world, their perceptions and opinions are beyond his control and therefore he doesn’t waste too much time on it.

The first Test against Bangladesh was Ashwin’s first competitive red-ball outing since early March, and the final Test against England in Dharamsala. If there was rust, it was hardly in evidence. Ashwin isn’t the kind to allow the grass to grow under his feet. Since playing a lead role as captain and all-rounder in his franchise Dindigul Dragons’ maiden title run in the Tamil Nadu Premier League which concluded on August 4, he has switched to red-ball mode, apart from working on his fitness. If he went wicketless in the first innings, it was largely because the conditions were more stacked in favour of the faster bowlers, but with greater wear and tear in the second dig and with extra bounce that the red clay offers, he was incisive in the second, with six for 88.

History will be a lot more generous in its acknowledgement of Ashwin’s towering contributions to Indian and international cricket. He has six hundreds and 525 wickets in Test cricket alone, each on its own a standout accomplishment. To do it simultaneously, to ignore unwarranted criticism, to keep working assiduously on honing a craft already of the highest quality calls for a unique inner drive that comes only to a select few. Perhaps it’s time, if it hasn’t been for several years now, to get our collective heads out of the sand and recognise Ashwin for the champion he is when he is still plying his wares, rather than wait for him to bid adieu to the sport, whenever that is, and then lament his absence and hark back to the ‘halcyon days’ when Ashwin was gobbling up batters for fun.

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