IND V ENG: England face an uphill task against relentless Ashwin

New Delhi: A 26 year old tall lad from Tamil Nadu was handed over the responsibility to lead the Indian spin attack against a strong England batting line up in 2012. The result: just 14 wickets in four matches at an average of 52.64, with Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott taking him to the cleaners. Since then, Ravichandran Ashwin has come a long way, picking up 99 wickets in 13 matches played in India. When Alastair Cook’s England again embarks their India tour, they will be up against an evolved Ashwin, an Ashwin ready to demolish anything on his path.  Ashwin’s growth as an off spinner has been nothing short of phenomenal; gone are the days when he used to depend on his carom ball to deceive the opposition. Now, he is a complete off spinner, with the ability to pick up wickets in bunches. England knows, they will have to somehow find a way to keep Ashwin off the wickets column if they want to give themselves any chance of repeating their feat in 2012. That is easier said than done. The No. 1 ranked test bowler spun a web around the visiting South African side, with 31 wickets in a four-match series and backed that up by tormenting the kiwis with 27 wickets in the recently concluded three-match test series. The job began under new captain Virat Kohli in 2015, when Ashwin really started to find his mojo. To strike a right balance between off spinners and carom balls, was the key for the 30 year old to keep the batsman guessing. He fully repaid the faith showed on him by captain Virat Kohli in Sri Lanka, returning with 21 wickets, Ashwin announced himself on the world stage. That juggernaut has only gathered its pace since then. Ashwin’s recent success has drawn comparisons with the greats of the game. The tall off spinner became the second fastest to take 200 test scalps, only behind Clarrie Grimmet. England on other hand has gone from bad to worst in tackling spin. Their dismal show in the recently concluded Bangladesh series raises little hopes for standing up against the likes of Ashiwn. 38 of their 40 wickets were taken by spinners. New comer Mehedi Hasan took as many as 19 wickets, leaving the visitors in dire states. What is worse for England is that they will take the field against an Indian side consisting of Ashwin, Jadeja and Amit Mishra without a proper practice match. Ashwin would not complain though. When the five-match series kick starts at Rajkot from Novmeber 9, the onus will be on him to extend his dominance against an unprepared, England team.