New Delhi:
Former Indian coach and legend Ravi Shastri has thrown light on those aspects of the living legend Ravichandran Ashwin, who recently retired, which make this off-spinner a special player. Recently, Ashwin had returned to India after saying goodbye to Test cricket after the Gabba Test in Australia tour. Shastri said in the ICC Review Programme, “I think what was special about Ashwin was his constant development as a player all the time. Ashwin never seemed satisfied with his performance”, he said, ” He always wanted to learn new tricks. Ashwin constantly pursued these, worked hard on them and continued to look at these new things to keep his tricks up with time.” R. Ashwin is India’s second most successful bowler in international cricket with a total of 765 wickets (in 537 Tests). Only Anil Kumble (953 wickets) is ahead of him.

Shastri said, “Ashwin’s legacy will remain as a brilliant match-winner. He has a very good record with 537 wickets. I mean, more than five hundred wickets in Test cricket is a special thing.” Shastri also pointed out the improvement in Ashwin’s wickets in this decade in the programme. While Ashwin’s overall career average is 24, his average in this decade is 21.18.

Shastri said, “For Ashwin to do it and especially the way he has done it. Especially when it comes to his performances in the last four-five years. I think Ashwin along with Ravindra Jadeja are a very good pair for India. These two are a real spin duo.” The former all-rounder said that both of them have cooperated a lot with each other in the search of wickets.

Shastri said, “Both of them also praise each other. And I would say that in the last five-six years, a lot of Jadeja’s wickets have come because of Ashwin.” Shastri’s point can also be seen in the way that when these two play together, their average improves. While playing together, the averages of Jadeja and Ashwin dropped from 24 and 24.5 to 22.32 and 20.91 respectively.