R Ashwin (left) and Ravindra Jadeja.
Credit: PTI Photo
Mumbai: Virat Kohli, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja all made their Test debuts within 18 months of each other. They were but young men then, anxiously hoping to fill the shoes of the giants who preceded them.
Just when that feeling was beginning to rest easy, England came along and ended their 28-year wait for a series win in India.
Kohli, Ashwin and Jadeja (who made his Test debut in the last Test of that series) would have felt the prick of that loss, but they couldn’t have fully understood the significance of that moment because they hadn’t felt the pride of keeping England at bay. No matter how much they attempted to internalise the pain felt by the likes of Sachin Tendulkar or Virender Sehwag or Gautam Gambhir, they wouldn’t have been able to.
Surely, the seniors didn’t expect them to either because they would’ve known that the young won’t remain young for long and will have to endure their own kind of pain in time to come. It happened a few days ago when New Zealand won the second Test in Pune.
As the team walked off the field, golden strands of dusk on the horizon, they all embraced one another, but Ashwin and Jadeja held on for a bit longer as they stood by the sight screen.
Maybe it’s because that rapport organically builds when you are the most successful spin-bowling pair in the history of cricket. Or, maybe, they know then that there are only so many more Tests they will be a part of, together.
See, Ashwin turned 38 a little over a month ago and Jadeja will be 36 soon enough.
Once the third Test in Mumbai is done with, India head to Australia for a five-Test series, following which they travel to England for five Tests in June 2025, and then West Indies arrive in India in October 2025. Basically, India don’t play a Test match at home for nearly a year.
So, it is possible that Ashwin may not be around when India next play at home. Given Jadeja’s fitness, you can expect him to stick around a while longer, but even that is not a guarantee. Also, it’s unlikely that they will play two spinners in Australia or in England.
All things considered, the Wankhede could be witness to a potential end of the pair’s alliance. They will probably hug it out and bid adieu without much hullabaloo, but somewhere deep down they will know that they were lucky to find one another: the scientist and the specialist.
Ashwin and Jadeja have played 48 Tests at home and picked up 502 wickets at an average of 21.46 and a scary strike rate of 49.58. They also had 32 five-wicket hauls between them, and seven instances of 10 wickets in a match. Besides, they scored 3182 runs with the bat at an average of 29.74, and have four centuries between them.
While Ashwin is the one leading the way with the bowling figures, Jadeja keeps the batting boat afloat. This balance that they managed to achieve is the stuff of legends, but even that pales in comparison to their wizardry in tandem with the ball in hand.
Ashwin runs experiments with his mind and the minds of the batters and Jadeja bowls with the precision of a nuclear-powered metronome. Those are their roles, and somewhere along in this process of willful adherence, they will get you out. That’s how it started way back in 2012, and that’s how it has been since.
Well, it hasn’t been all that good the last couple of Tests, though. neither has looked as sharp and effective against New Zealand. Both of them have lacked the verve and the efficacy which set them apart. Ashwin hasn’t looked quite as threatening, and Jadeja hasn’t been quite as restrictive.
Typically, one or the other fires, but both have let themselves, each other and the team down recently. Even Indian skipper Rohit Sharma alluded to this during the post-match press conference in Pune.
Maybe it’s nothing, just a few bad games, and they will find their stride again. Or maybe their calloused fingers and overworked shoulders are feeling the pressure of all those overs for all those many years finally.
Irrespective, India will want to have a plan in place because when Harbhajan Singh was on the wane, Ashwin was around, when Pragyan Ojha was past sell-by, Jadeja was there.
Soon there will be some young men anxiously hoping to fill the shoes of the giants who preceded them. The story goes on.