Full-of-ammo R Ashwin has everything going for him now: Aakash Chopra

Spin to Win I can almost hear this chant inside the Indian dressing room Before the first Test the Indian team had won their last three home Test matches inside three days and the match at Mohali was no differentAlso read Mohali Test Very surprised with the shots says R AshwinIndia offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin bowls on Day Two of first Test against South Africa at Mohali on Friday PicPTIThe Indian spin trio and a spinready pitch from the first day is a deadly combo and once India got the first use of the pitch it was relatively onesided affair While the scorecard might suggest that South Africa got fairly close to Indias total in the first innings the fact is that anything less than a 75run lead was a failure for them Since South Africa had to bat last on this pitch they needed the cushion of those extra runs But they fell short by 17 runs in the first innings itselfAshwin the spin kingShould we call it Ashwin 20 or wait a little longer While Ashwin has an enviable home record his overseas numbers are fairly pedestrian And once thats the case theres a lot of room for a debate Is it the conditions that have made him such a force in the recent past or has he actually unearthed some hidden treasure The way hes bowling in 2015 most people are tempted to believe that he is indeed a different bowler nowAlso read Mohali Test R Ashwin achieves rare feat after 105 yearsThere are a few things that you want to see in a spinner mdash spin bounce drift and dip At the moment Ashwin has all that and more He is also pitching the ball outside off inviting the batsmen to play against the spin and more importantly hes staying away from too many variationsHes already taken eight wickets in this series and Id be very surprised if he finishes with less than 25 wickets in the series In fact hes my horse for the man of the series award About the verdict on his abilities Id say that the jury is still out Ashwin like many others of his ilk these days come with a conditions apply tag and till he spins a web outside the subcontinent at least once Ill hold my horsesKudos to Vijay PujaraAnyone who plays only one format should be respected more than the rest And if that format happens to be Test cricket he should be respected even more for limited overs matches happen almost once a week Tests not even once a month The moment you go away from the international circuit you are reduced to playing bowlers of much lesser quality and that too only if the domestic circuit is on at that time If not you are completely left to your own devices Its in Indian crickets interest to keep Pujara and Vijay in good shape for they are the ones who will bail the team out in tough conditions They will make cricket in whites in vogue tooThe way aheadWhile losses magnify mistakes victories hide them But good teams become great teams only if they keep a close tab on their mistakes The biggest error of judgment on the Indian team managements part was the playing combination they picked for Mohali for playing two fast bowlers on a pitch like that was futile In fact it felt that since Kohli had played two seamers he felt obliged to use them more than he should haveThe first hour of the second day could have cost India the game if Ashwin didnt turn the tables in the second hour of the opening session Kohli is a young captain leading a young team and hence its the duty of the team management to chip in with valuable inputs One of those should focus on picking horses for courses read only four bowlers on a bowlerfriendly pitch and proper utilisation of the resources39Number of wickets taken by R Ashwin in six Tests this year at an average of 2082