Ash, Batters Despised Your ‘Mate’ Call

Check, mate was a bugle call from that Grand Master. The batters turned pawns, and he the captor.

My Tribe. And when someone from your tribe shatters the illusion of off-spinners being not intelligent and sharp, you owe him, or certainly I owe him an ode to an off-spinner, our tribe. My tribe has done the cricket world proud, time and again.

Ash, Ash Wednesday, it was. Remarkably, a reflection perhaps of how off spinners have defied the notion of them being orchestrators of damp squibs. Or of repentance of my tribe as not to have set the score straight with their brains deceiving the brawn with flight.

Your clarion call may have come out of the blue, denied you the solemn farewell, and may have invited thunderous denunciations. So, what?

You will find succor to know that your tribe celebrates you – one of the hallowed sons of the tribe. Your display of cognitive superiority, mind-game thrillers, and the stamp of off-spinning authority on the field puts you there among the pantheons. That you followed the footsteps of other icons of our tribe, notably E.A.S Prasanna and Venkataraghavan adds more zest to our tribe.

You, a Think-tanker

You held them all bat-tied. This virtuosity in mind game would have originated from Ash, the think-tanker. You were not the ‘dance to my tune’ spinner like what our legend Prasanna was. Rather, you went beyond the copy book, you were bent on strengthening your armory, learning every new trick. That you thought like a batsman when you bowled was what that put you on a cognitive high.

Your Lessons, Moves, and Cognitive Highs

As you watch the footage in motion, the ‘keen eye’ takes over.  When you drink in the persona, style and method, you observe the pattern to it all. You have never missed out on spotting a ‘vulnerable drive’ or an obsession to sweep. Like how you got to the root of Root’s batting pattern – Of how Root’s vulnerable defence would force him into a sweep shot. There was a method to your madness.

A sweep shot sets your antennae whirling, or you brew that round-the-wicket angle plot to a reverse sweep. Nor did you shy away from a batsman’s sweet spot. Like how you observed that Labuschagne was obsessed with the cow corner when our tribe bowls. You went about your observe-think-plan-and-plot cycle with surgical precision.

Your bowling may not have been music to all ears, certainly not to the batters. Remember your run up to the crease, and the release. The ball then wolf-whistled at its prey. It had its man. Smith played into your hands, rather into the hands of backward short leg. You caught on to that early innings vulnerability and manipulated him into that shot. 

You, a Master of Deception

If there was a spy, he would take a leaf out of your ‘craft and cunning’. When we were stunned to look at the right-handed Warner, you just rolled your arms. Yes, Warner scored a tactical win, but you smiled your way to your bowling mark. Short-lived his success was when he swept you to the ropes. 

What came next was a glowing testimonial to our tribe. We, the tribe, were adrenaline-fueled to soak up that moment. And as Warner changed gears to a reverse sweep, your cunning did him in– releasing the ball a bit late and making it go the other way, you caught him red-handed. 

Your bamboozling plots were a cunning mix, a standard off-spin tossed up, an arm ball bowled next and then the floater drifting away. The other day, Australians were under your spell. The proof of the pudding was Labuschagne who had no clue to your floater.

Mate, you are an Artist’s Artist

Wish I had stayed closer to the action. When you let the ball rip off your fingers, enroute to the batter, Cook, it simply put an off-spinner’s delight into perspective. Our tribe goes gaga over that peach. When you cooked that ‘off-spinners’ delight’ to perfection, our tribe drooled over the flight, loop, and dip palpably letting us all to tuck into that delight.

And then those whirls, fizzes, revs on the ball setting up those onomatopoeic delights that our tribe craves for, takes pride in - was music to our ears.

Ever a Student Ash

Talking of that drift, the one that goes away, you fell in love with the art early on. Only a batter then, you were lured into uncovering the know-how. That act of yours is going to rub off on youngsters and enthusiasts who want to master this craft. Lucky, the tribe has an anecdote to inspire our grandchildren.

Again the ‘batsman’ in you triggered the move to learn that ‘drifter’ of a delivery. The drift-test you underwent in a tennis ball match set your inquisitive mind on a search to uncover the secret behind the drifting deliveries. It was the spark you needed to master the carrom ball.

Ash, our Tribe’s Common Denominator

You were a champ in that, like the pedigreed sons of our tribe. With a parable, our tribe will be vindicated, as good a proof that you came good when you were tried and tested.

 Bedi and Pras, from the famous spin quartet weren’t the white flannelled colts that day. It was the 1985 Pongal Test Match. In the guise of a Manager and a Selector, they indulged in an adrenaline game. Bedi, as ebullient as always, dared Prasanna into getting Azhar at the net session. Mind you Azhar was in great nick.

‘No off-spinner can get this boy’ was the salt treatment that spurred Pras into action. What happened next was the check-and-mate brilliance that Pras staged to get Azhar. Noteworthy is the point that Pras demolished Azhar’s strong forte. That was Azhar’s elegant on drive.

Setting him up, bowling from the off-stump line, Pras changed tack to target the middle-and-leg stump line. As the wrong-un was flighted outside the leg stump, Azhar turned into a kingfisher pecking at a fish. Shaping up for an on drive, Azhar was deceived and his leg stump uprooted. 

And then the drift-duels with Chapelli, that’s a story for another day.

Ash, you, your predecessors and our tribe had several strings to our bow. We have conquered the art of quick-witted, clever, and smart bowling. Off-spin it is. We thank you for being an honorable torchbearer of this tribe. You are a legendary exponent of this art.