How good is Ravichandran Ashwin?
Opinions continue to vary …
And we come hurtling back to the age-old problem.
Much as we would like to avoid mentioning this, cricket remains an ancient duel.
Between old timers for whom nothing can match the brilliance of the days of yore, and the young lads who gape wide eyed at the newly hailed hero.
The favourite performers one sees before the broad mind and narrow waist exchange dimensions remain the greatest that ever were.
Especially in India the legend of the spinning quartet is so strongly etched, every unprecedented Ashwin feat triggers a mad rush for excuses to underline that the better record is merely a function of the degenerate times rather than skills and performance.
But the problem with that is Ashwin is an off-spinner.
The standard apologies of modern times, re: enormous bats, covered wickets and shorter boundaries do not help here.
In fact, it amplifies his case by several factors.
Hence, the most accepted argument one comes across is that Ashwin will not be accepted as a bona fide great unless he proves himself in all lands. That is, unless he gets wickets in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, England and the rest of the world.
True, Ashwin’s records in several lands are not as outstanding, or even good.
The problem in that case is that the argument backfires and proves there has never been any great spinner produced by India.
Because no one, bar Subhash Gupte, has excelled in every country he has played in.
Most of the records of our 'great' spinners have gaping holes.
I have kept it simple. I measured each Indian spinner in every condition, grouping their feats across Strong countries and weaker countries.
One country can be both strong and weak as it goes through its years. West Indies before 2006 is considered strong, West Indies after 2006 is weak, much to the disadvantage of Ashwin.
But, again, Australia 1977-78 is a weak Packer-depleted side. New Zealand a near-mnnow till the 1970s.
Take a look at the tables.
In different countries, the good performances are in green, the bad in red, the tolerable in blue.
Ashwin and Jadeja in the different conditions
The cream of Indian spinners (before the modern era) in different conditions
The other Indian spinners in different conditions
The 1990-2010 stalwarts in different conditions
We see that among all the spinners, only Subhash Gupte comes out of all the tests in more or less flying colours. Yes, he was special.
But when we look at the others, and focus on the stronger lands, every vaunted name, hallowed or otherwise, stutters and stumbles.
In fact, Ashwin and Jadeja have less red marks than most.
What can we conclude from here?
If we can stretch our minds beyond the fables of the past (and get rid of that horrid counter-factual perception-verifying 'numbers are not everything' mantra:
1. We can either say that Ashwin has indeed entered the pantheon of greats and at present leads the Indian field by quite some distance. His only reasonable competitor seems to be Jadeja.
If in his remaining career the record abroad improves we will be able to say without doubt that he is the greatest ever Indian spinner by some furlongs.
OR
2. The second option is to deny his greatness till he performs in difficult places overseas. The caveat that comes with this is that in that case we have to acknowledge that there has never been a great Indian spinner.
(Except possibly for the marginal case of Gupte)
Unfortunately, there is no way out — no matter how many fairy tales about our spinners we may have grown up with.
In my opinion, the first conclusion makes more sense. It is also more palatable and safer for the fans of the past eras.
Please note as well that we cannot expect even supreme spinners to be that successful in all lands.
If we thumb through the history of visiting teams in Australia, for instance, we will notice that other than the extraordinary duo of Jim Laker and Hugh Tayfield, and other than in the Packer period, no finger spinner has ever been successful there since World War 2.
In fact, Wardle transformed himself into a wristspinner in 1954-55 because this problem was quite well-known.
So, to be realistic, we need to acknowledge the fact that is staring at us with more and more prominence with each passing Test.
Ashwin is a phenomenal performer.
And I have not even touched upon his batting skills.
Born 17 Sep 1986.