MATCH STORIES
Follow UsUntil March 28 (Thursday), Ravichandran Ashwin had batted majorly at No. 8 or No.9, with 47 innings in those positions.
But over the last two years, Rajasthan have unearthed the best way to use Ashwin’s batting skills, which has a lot to do with using him for a specific role. You look at the 37-year-old - he’s always padded up when his side is batting, and that has to do with how the franchise have used him.
“I surprise people I guess. Whenever I walk out to bat, people assume I just took that decision and came out, but that is a role given to me, we lost Sanju and I had to do a job. I am far better at judging my strengths, I take a few balls to get going. I enjoyed my batting,” Ashwin reflected back in 2023 after scoring a 22-ball 30 against Chennai Super Kings.
On that occasion as well, Rajasthan shocked the cricketing fraternity by promoting Ashwin to No.5, and he responded with a stellar show. In that innings, Ashwin targetted the left-arm pacer Akash Singh, smashing him for two sixes. Later on, in the same season, the all-rounder was promoted to No.5, only to score 2 (6).
It wasn’t an experiment; Rajasthan had a role for the 37-year-old, who once upon a time started his journey as an opener. So, when he walked out to bat at 36/3 against Delhi Capitals, there were a few raised eyebrows.
Why not Shimron Hetmyer? Why not Dhruv Jurel?
Ashwin showed exactly why RR had trusted him with the bat. He was 5 (7) to start with, showing utmost respect to the left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav. But once he was set, he didn’t spare Kuldeep anymore, smashing a massive six.
An over later, Ashwin showed that he was no mug with the bat. Ashwin might have been at the IPL for the longest time, but you can’t quite recall him smashing pacers for sixes. There isn’t a single cell in your brain that recollects any such incident.
But against a returning Anrich Nortje, who was charged up, Ashwin showed the entire world how much trust in one’s potential could reflect in the result. Short of a length, the right-hander picked the absolute bones out of the delivery, dispatching it to the deep mid-wicket boundary.
Three deliveries later, he smashed another one, this time even better. No prizes for guessing the length.
Ashwin had not just smashed the leather, he was a prime reason behind stitching up a crucial partnership with Riyan Parag.
It was only the third occasion when Ashwin had hit three sixes in a single innings, after doing it against Kolkata Knight Riders in Indore (2018) and against Chennai Super Kings at Brabourne (2022).
It seems like Rajasthan have maximised Ashwin’s batting potential, with the Tamil Nadu man averaging 20.5 for the franchise with a strike rate of 140, the second-best for him in the IPL for a franchise.
29 off 19, he played a blinder, a knock that might not really be remembered.
A World Cup year, an Ashwin masterclass. If you know, you know.
