Ashwin puts India win over his selection for England Test

The off-spinner sat out the first four Tests played last year when India took a 2-1 lead, but could come into reckoning in the final Test starting at Edgbaston on Friday

R Ashwin the team man took immense pride in India’s performance against England last year but personally, it was a frustrating experience to sit out all the four Test matches. His best chance to play was at The Oval, in the third Test, when there was a case to play two spinners. The team management, however, preferred to go with just one, picking Ravindra Jadeja.

India's Ravichandran Ashwin(ANI)

As luck would have it, the fifth Test was postponed due to an outbreak of Covid-19 cases in the Indian camp and it has been rescheduled to be held at Edgbaston, a venue known to assist spinners, from Friday.

There is a new team management in place with Rohit Sharma as captain and Rahul Dravid as coach. And, if the current think-tank feels confident of the off-spinner’s effectiveness, then the fifth Test could well turn out to be Ashwin’s first of the series.

Even though his departure to England was delayed after testing positive for Covid-19, he bowled well in the second innings of the warm-up game against Leicestershire. It didn’t take long to shrug off the long Indian Premier League.

“I have had my own mental conditioning coach. I have gone through a lot personally, and I tend to forget things very quickly now. So, what’s happened last year in England I have forgotten it; only the good things I try to carry forward. I will be so happy and gunning for the team to win 3-1 because I can turn back and say I was in an Indian team which won in Australia, which won in England. Unfortunately we couldn’t win in South Africa, so that’s what I want,” said Ashwin on the sidelines of an event held recently in Mumbai.

Is there the nagging thought that he should be a regular member of the team in overseas Tests?

“I have been taught cricket very differently. You can’t challenge conditions, if the conditions are against you, you have to make the best choices. Somewhere I feel these things go out of the window and personal vendetta does come through and that’s why I have this habit of saying, 'okay forget things and move on',” said Ashwin, who has taken 442 wickets in 86 Tests. The spinner has an impressive record in County cricket with seven five-wicket hauls in 10 matches.

Like Ashwin, Cheteshwar Pujara’s place in the side has also been questioned from time to time despite some fine displays overseas.

Pujara lost his place in the team after India’s series loss in South Africa at the start of the year. He has earned his spot back in the squad with a series of tall scoes in County cricket.

“Pujara was a thoroughbred Test cricketer always. Sometimes it’s just my thought process, in India, IPL is the biggest stage at this point of time and sometimes… we can tend to get carried away by the stage. Pujara has remained authentic. With respect to all that, we need to understand that he has done a very thankless job. He walks in at No 3, he doesn’t complain, he keeps grinding it out. I am so glad he went and made runs and earned his place back in the side. At the end of the day, good guys should win, they shouldn’t finish last.”