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Ashwin and Jadeja picked up 481 wickets in home Tests as a pair, with their bowling averages being better together.
Ravindra Jadeja (left) and Ravichandran Ashwin have 855 Test wickets between them.
Former India coach Ravi Shastri believes Ravichandran Ashwin’s pursuit of excellence, ‘guile’ and willingness to constantly improve his craft stood him out as one of the greatest match-winners in cricket history. Shastri even credited Ashwin for providing assists for a lot of wickets for his spin-twin Ravindra Jadeja, adding that the duo complimented and made each other better.
Ashwin, who retired on Wednesday, played 106 Tests, 116 ODIs and 65 T20Is for India. He picked up 537 wickets in red-ball international cricket, the second-highest for India, while also scoring six Test centuries and 14 fifties, mostly in the lower-order, saving the team from batting crises.
“They (Ashwin and Jadeja) complemented each other well and they spurred each other on you know so I would say a lot of Jadeja’s wickets in the last you know five-six years have come because of Ashwin and vice-versa,” Shastri said on the ICC review.
Ashwin and Jadeja averaged 22.32 and 20.91 respectively when playing together, much better than from 24 and 24.05 they offered otherwise.
“For me it was his (Ashwin’s) guile, wanting to excel in his craft and (especially) in the last two-three years the way he got the ball to the way gave it a rip and got it to dip on the batsman with drift made him stand out,” Shastri said. “And you look at his record against right-handers, against left-handers, it’s pretty much similar, you know, which says it all. It didn’t matter to him who he was bowling against. You know, he was up for it.”
“He wanted new tricks to be learned. He pursued it, practiced hard at it and continued to look for new things as his career progressed, to keep up with the times,” Shastri added. “His legacy will be of being a terrific match-winner, a fabulous record, 537 sticks. I mean anyone over 500 (in Test cricket) is special,” Shastri said.
A big part of Ashwin’s peak years came when Shastri was the men’s head coach. Though his overseas presence reduced in that tenure, the tweaker solidified his place as the first name on India’s team sheets in home Tests, playing a massive role in the famous dominance.
