On The Long Road

The test series against New Zealand will provide answers to some of the question marks that still hang over the Indian side under Kohli.

- Chetan Narula

Sitting in the press conference room at the Brian Lara Pavilion after the end of India’s tour of the West Indies, R. Ashwin was all smiles—having won the Man of the Series award for scoring 235 runs and scalping 17 wickets in four matches. That he finished the top wicket-taker in this contest was hardly a surprise, given the slow nature of pitches in the Caribbean these days. The runs, though, were a different matter altogether. The two centuries at Antigua and St. Lucia took his tally in Test cricket to four—all of them have come against the same opposition. When asked about this purple patch against the West Indies he laughed and said, “Maybe it’s a psychological thing. They just bring it out easily, since I know I have done it in the past against them.”

It takes more than just a mental advantage to succeed consistently on the field. And it became obvious in the manner Ashwin prepared for the tour, to showcase his batting ability ahead of a long Test schedule over the next seven months. Providing a fine balance with both bat and ball, he will be the glue that will hold the lower-middle order together for the Indian team this home season.

Even so, the team selection in Trinidad and Tobago had been a peculiar one, pushing Ashwin down from the No. 6 spot as skipper Virat Kohli opted for seven batsmen. “We wanted to try out this combination keeping in mind the home season, wherein four bowlers might be enough to do the job for us. It will allow us to play an extra batsman and counter situations like the one in Galle (Sri Lanka 2015), where we lost,” he said.