With every home series, India’s spin all-rounders R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are rewriting the record books. They surpassed Anil Kumble-Harbhajan Singh as the most successful spin-bowling pair during the England series. Jadeja needs just one more wicket to become second-fastest player in Test history to complete the double of 300 wickets and 3000 runs after Ian Botham. With 99 wickets, Ashwin is the most successful Indian bowler in a fourth innings of a Test. The off-spinner now has 73 fourth-innings wickets at home with only Shane Warne above him with 77 scalps.
As India’s two premier all-rounders go about charting their greatness, their numbers suggest Ashwin and Jadeja have eclipsed Kumble and Harbhajan at home conditions.
Most effective in home conditions
481 – the number of wickets taken by Ashwin and Jadeja in 45 home Tests they have played together.
Unlike Kumble and Harbhajan who played only 34 Tests and accounted for 356 wickets together, Ashwin and Jadeja have been able to play more games and hence have easily surpassed their tally. But unlike Kumble and Harbhajan, who didn’t have a very potent pace bowling pack operating in tandem, Ashwin and Jadeja have been part of an all-round attack. It means, India have taken more wickets. In the 45 they have played together so far, India have taken 828 wickets with Ashwin and Jadeja accounting 58 per cent of those.
Indian bowler Anil Kumble. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna)
But when Kumble and Harbhajan started to bowl regularly as a pair, India mostly had an inexperienced pace attack, and had to take the bulk of the workload. As a result, they sent down more overs and took 65 percent of the overall wickets that India accounted for in the 34 matches they played together.
If we scrutinise the numbers further, Ashwin and Jadeja’s corresponding numbers at the end of 34 Tests at home throw up something interesting. With 197 wickets Ashwin is slightly behind Kumble’s tally of 201 wickets. But Jadeja with 162 wickets is ahead of Harbhajan’s 155. However, together as a pair, Ashwin-Jadeja (359) overtake Kumble-Harbhajan’s (356) tally at the end of 34 Tests. But in terms of percentage of wickets taken in the period, Ashwin-Jadeja’s stands at 57, while the two retired spinners had 65 percentage.
But Conditions apply
Ashwin and Jadeja have together featured in 45 Tests at home, 11 more than what Kumble and Harbhajan played together. But out of those, only 17 have seen Day 5 finishes (9 wins, 8 draws). However, Kumble and Harbhajan were part of Tests that ended on the final day on 26 occasions (8 wins, 14 draws, 4 losses).
It is a fair reflection of the pitches that India have played in the two eras. In the 2000s, India mostly played on traditional Indian decks that underwent wear and tear only gradually. Rank turners were not common. But over the past decade, India have altered between playing on flat, low decks and rank turners especially after the World Test Championship came into effect. As a result, out of the 45 home Tests Ashwin and Jadeja have played so far, 13 have finished on Day 4, 14 on Day 3 and one on Day 2.
For Kumble-Harbhajan, there were only two Day 3 finishes and 4 Tests ended on Day 4.
DRS makes a difference
No of wickets via LBW
Ashwin-Jadeja: 115
Kumble-Harbhajan: 64
Those numbers definitely tell a story about how far the arrival of DRS has helped spinners in general. With DRS in play, umpires have been bold in terms of their decision making, especially with regards to the LBW calls. Even in case umpires turn down an appeal, Ashwin and Jadeja have been able to use DRS to turn things around. Ashwin and Harbhajan, whose off-breaks naturally bring LBW into the equation, it is the former who has seen more success. Ashwin has 63 LBW mode dismissals, while Harbhajan had only 12. Kumble and Jadeja – who mostly attacked the line of stumps have 52 LBW scalps.
Who attacked the stumps more?
Even in this aspect, in terms of the wickets taken, Ashwin-Jadeja duo has been more consistent in terms of attacking the stumps. Apart from the LBW dismissals, Ashwin (59) and Jadeja (52) have also bowled batsmen more often than their predecessors. Out of their 481 wickets at home, 111 have been bowled, which is a clear indication of how consistently they have attacked the line of stumps, a strategy that India have followed over the past decade. Kumble-Harbhajan duo had 61 of the bowled with the former alone accounting for 40.
Other modes of dismissals:
Stumped:
Ashwin (6), Jadeja (9): 15
Kumble (5), Harbhajan (4): 9
Caught:
Ashwin (135), Jadeja (105): 240
Kumble (104), Harbhajan (118): 222
On equal foot against top six batsmen
One of the constant themes in the home Tests over the past decade has been how often India’s captains have handed the new ball to Ashwin and Jadeja. It means, out of the 481 wickets they have taken on home soil, 274 have been batsmen who slot in the top six. Ashwin has 157 of those and Jadeja 117. This despite the duo having very good pace bowlers in Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma over the years who have taken the new ball regularly. In all, the top six accounted for 56 percent of their total wickets.
Out of their 356 wickets, Kumble-Harbhajan had 201 scalps from the top 6, which is 56 percent of their overall tally. During their playing time, India mostly had Zaheer Khan as the lone constant pacer at home. It meant Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, MS Dhoni all relied extensively on Kumble and Harbhajan for wickets at home. Interestingly, even Ashwin-Jadeja also have identical percentages.
Close in closing games too
In the fourth innings, where spinners are mostly in play, the two legendary pairs have played a dominating role. In fact, percentage wise, it is the Kumble-Harbhajan duo who is most effective, but if one factors in the wickets alone, it is the Ashwin-Jadeja pair that is way ahead. While 25 percent of Kumble-Harbhajan’s wickets at home have come in the fourth innings, for Ashwin and Jadeja it is only 23 percent. But in terms of wickets, both Ashwin-Jadeja (113) have more than Kumble-Harbhajan’s 90.
India’s Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja during the first day of the first test cricket match between India and Bangladesh, at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, in Chennai, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (PTI Photo)
Stamping their authority in batting
It is needless to say, but on the batting front, Ashwin and Jadeja have outperformed both Kumble and Harbhajan individually and as well as a pair. Kumble and Harbhajan both had Test centuries, but the former’s lone three-figure mark came at the Oval. The two had nine scores of 50 and above including two centuries from Harbhajan. But Ashwin and Jadeja have 28 at home including seven centuries. Even in terms of partnership, Ashwin and Jadeja have batted together in 14 innings and have scored 601 runs at an average of 46.23. Whereas Kumble and Harbhajan batted together in 13 innings, scoring only 261 runs at an average of 21.75. In short, Ashwin and Jadeja have been frontline all-rounders.
With stat inputs from Lalith Kalidas
