Ashwin the allrounder stands in for Ashwin the bowler

It was a bit of a job trying to explain R Ashwin was the world's No. 1 bowler.

Fifty-six overs for two measly wickets in Rajkot. How could he do this? That too at the start of a marquee series. Against an opponent who was supposed to read spin bowlers about as well as a toddler reads hieroglyphs. Clearly, this Test has been nothing short of a big smiley face sticking its tongue out at every prediction anyone has ever made about it. England are on top, if you didn't know.

So maybe it wasn't surprising that after getting no reward with the ball, Ashwin scored a chanceless, effortless half-century after India's situation had got as dicey as it ever had in the four days of play so far.

Still, he could at least have thrown his bat around and got a few nicks over the slips and third man. Nope. Middled pretty much everything. Played beautiful little late cuts and cover drove like a champion.

On the fourth day, the one Indian batsman averaging over 50 misjudged length, hit across the line and was bowled. Another trod onto his stumps. With five and a half sessions left, and a lead of 176 still intact, England had gained a substantial opening. Except, Ashwin stood in the way. Probably just to spite them. Or maybe it was to haul his team out of trouble. You decide what's more plausible.

The hallmark of a batsman, it has long been said, is how much time he has to play his shots. The slowness of the pitch lent Ashwin a hand, but the ease with which he was picking good-length balls and manoeuvring them into gaps either side of the pitch was just too much. Sure, his stance is like VVS Laxman's. And yes, some of their shots are similar too. The running, definitely. Now he has gone and taken up the role as the rearguard specialist too?

India wouldn't have won in St Lucia without Ashwin the batsman. He made 118 off 297 balls having come in at 87 for 4. They may yet lose in Rajkot but his 70 off 139 meant that might only happen if England's bowlers can take 10 wickets in two sessions or so. Considering it has taken four days for the teams to bowl each other out, and with the turn expected of the pitch arriving to the party subdued and fashionably late, India have a good chance of keeping the series level despite trailing for most of it so far.

Ashwin showed the magic in his hands every time he played the late cut. He also did the one thing that is inextricably associated with a pure batsman: farming the strike.

India lost their ninth wicket in the 156th over. England needed six more overs to bowl them out because Ashwin kept finding a single off the last two balls of an over to make sure he was on strike for the next one. He would exploit Rashid's drift by coming down the track and taking the ball on the full to find a single at long-on. He met wide yorkers from Ben Stokes with the open face and steered the ball behind point. He left Mohammed Shami with at best two balls per over.

Ashwin was caught on the midwicket boundary going for a six off the last ball of the 162nd over. The field was brought up and offspinner Moeen Ali was bowling around the wicket, cramping him up and reducing the chances of working the ball into a gap. He saw the ball was tossed up, he realised runs were on offer, he backed himself to clear the fielder and he went for it. Hmmm. That's about as batsman-y as it gets.

I really should've known better and introduced Ashwin as the world's No. 1 allrounder averaging 47 in Tests in 2016, a "series-defining" hundred included.