England are arguably now the team to beat in Tests: Ashwin

‘Will Bazball work in India?’ has been the question doing the rounds post Ashes 2023 and keen to find an answer for the same is Ravichandran Ashwin, who believes it won’t be an overstatement to claim England are the ‘team to beat’ in the longest format currently.

Nearly 15 months into the Ben Stokes - Brendon McCullum era, the Three Lions are yet to lose a series and while they threatened to do so a month ago in The Ashes, going 0-2 down, they bounced back emphatically to ultimately draw the five-match series. But for rain, Stokes’ side, in all likelihood, would have regained the urn.

But winning or even drawing a series in India is a whole different beast altogether — no team has managed this in the past 11 years — and so Ashwin is eager to see the unstoppable force take on the immovable object.

“England are playing a very exciting brand of cricket that has excited a lot of people around the world,” Ashwin told TOI.

“On the other hand, we have been extremely consistent and successful in recent years. I cannot wait for them to come here and I don't think they are going to take one foot backward, they will continue to play the way they play. 

“It wouldn't be an overstatement if I say that England is possibly the team to beat at this point of time.”

England are scheduled to tour India for five Tests at the start of 2024, and there’s a high likelihood that the series will witness wickets that are rank turners. The Australia series earlier this year was notorious for its extremely spin-friendly surfaces  — that made life very difficult for batters — and in order to combat Bazball, India are likely to dish out similar surfaces. 

But when questioned if he was not a fan of surfaces that end up reducing the gap in skill of the spinners that play, Ashwin asserted that he is the ‘wrong’ person to ask the question to, for his job is merely to win matches for the team on the surface that’s in front of him.

“I do not make the pitch, I do not roll the pitch and I just play on the pitch that is given to me. The decision to play on a pitch is taken by the team management in the best interest of the team,” Ashwin said.

“The pitch is the same for Jaddu, Nathan Lyon or me and I am the wrong person to be asked this question because I am not part of the management. I am just a player and I play on a surface that I am given to play on.”

With 879 rating points, Ashwin is currently the number one ranked bowler in Test cricket but it was only a couple of months ago that he ended up sitting out the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia, a decision that incited a lot of public outrage. Ashwin, in fact, has not played in each of India’s last six Tests in England and is not a certainty to feature in Tests outside Asia, despite hardly putting a foot wrong. 

When asked if he was frustrated by continuously getting snubbed away from home, Ashwin said that he’s grown beyond the phase where he lets negativity get to him.

“I can't put a finger and I don't want to try and find out why I got dropped because that is again not in my control,” Ashwin said.

“Ever since 2018-19, when I went through a mental and physical switch, I tried not to sit behind negativity. I have found myself in a state of contribution when I am in the dressing room. If my ego is too high, I become the biggest white elephant in the dressing-room and I don't want to become that. If I am playing, I am playing to win, if I am not, I cheer for India to win.”

Currently not in the frame for the ODI World Cup later this year, the 36-year-old re-asserted that he finds himself in a ‘very good space’, and does not pay heed to the uncontrollables.

“The selection of the team is not my job. I had decided long back that I would not think about stuff that is not in my hand. I am honestly in a very good space in terms of life and my cricket and I try to keep negativity away from my thought process.”