Ashwin's incredible streak

As 2015 dawned, India seemed to be slipping to the familiar lows of 2011-12: two tough and unsuccessful tours to England and Australia had just got over. While the batting looked promising, their bowling cupboard was near bare. R Ashwin, the leading spinner, had a particularly harrowing time, having gathered only 15 wickets in the five Tests he had played, at a huge cost of 45 runs per wicket, and was dropped from the Test team.

Then India went to Bangladesh, hoping to put the disappointment from the 2015 World Cup behind them, and things started looking up, at least for Ashwin. Not many would have suspected this to be the beginning of one of the greatest streaks of performance by a bowler in Test history.

Determining Ashwin's best 20-Test streak was a real teaser. The core 19 tests were fixed: Fatullah, 2015 to Mumbai, 2016. At the SCG, the Test just before the Bangladesh tour, Ashwin had captured five wickets. I assumed that he would do better in Chennai and was working on a streak between Fatullah and Chennai. But Ashwin was unlucky, catches were dropped, near chances missed and somehow he did not even come near his SCG performance. So, as late as an hour after tea on the last day in Chennai, the numbers decided that Ashwin's best streak would be between Sydney and Mumbai.

First, let us look at Ashwin's performances in the 20 Tests starting with the one at the SCG.

Let me summarise this magnificent run of bowling excellence from Ashwin: 20 Tests, 133 wickets at an average of 19.41, 15 five-fors (including 8 in the first innings) and five ten-wicket match hauls. As a little bonus, he scored 793 runs, all valuable and crucial to strengthen India's lower-middle order. India won 13 of these 20 Tests and all the five series played after the drawn Test against Bangladesh. There is no doubt that this is the best run of sustained, top-level performances by an India bowler, nay, player in history. However, where does it stand against players around the globe?

The awe-inspiring Muttiah Muralitharan has three independent streaks of 20-Tests in each of which he captured 147 wickets or more. That is an average of over seven wickets per Test. Muralitharan's first streak was highlighted by the opening day masterclass of 9 for 51 against Zimbabwe. The second streak featured the match-winning tour de force, his 8 or 70 at Trent Bridge.

Muralitharan's triple streak was broken by the legendary Sydney Barnes, who captured 149 wickets in the 20 Tests leading to the end of his career.

Then comes Ashwin, who captured 133 wickets in his 20-Test streak, which came to an end in Mumbai a few days ago with an average under 20. Granted the latter matches were at home, but let us not forget the pitches against England were not dust bowls. They were rather sporting and England won the toss more often than India. The outstanding basic skills of Ashwin, enhanced by the additional deliveries that he has perfected, were the reason for this rich haul.

The table is completed, not so surprisingly by Waqar Younis, Richard Hadlee, Shane Warne, Dennis Lillee and surprisingly by Richie Benaud.

Barnes almost did the impossible: he captured five wickets in an innings almost every Test over a 20-match streak. Though some of them came against weak South African teams, the fact that he took 19 such hauls in so short a time spoke of his deadly bowling skills. It is of interest to note that England and (a weak) South Africa played seven Tests during his career and Barnes took five-wicket hauls in 12 of the 14 innings he played against them.

It was no surprise Waqar Younis stood second, with 16 five-fors. This was very early in his career, when he was at his devastating best. In third place, with 15 five-wicket hauls were three bowlers: Muralitharan (twice), Hadlee and Ashwin. It is unlikely that this figure of 15 will be bettered by any bowler in the near future. It is also very unlikely that a bowler gets the sequence of home Tests like Ashwin. But that does not take the sheen away from his performance. Muralitharan gets in with a count of 13 and is followed by Clarrie Grimmett and Rangana Herath.

Now we come to the third of the bowler measures: The match hauls of ten wickets or more. Muralitharan is the undisputed king here. He achieved this eight times in one streak, seven times in another streak and four times in the third streak. These seem like fantasy numbers until we remember that most of us have seen the magician achieving these with our own eyes. Barnes completed the bowling double six times in the 20 Tests leading up to the end of his career.

Ashwin has a count of five. This is something special since a ten-wicket haul for the match invariably leads to a win for the team. Not surprisingly, Hadlee also had a ten-wicket tally of five. The list is rounded off by Lillee, Warne and Saeed Ajmal. Ajmal's is an interesting case. Even though he had only seven five-wicket hauls, he ended with four ten-wicket hauls, all achieved in the UAE and other neutral venues.

Comparing performances by batsmen and bowlers is a task replete with pitfalls. Possibly the most obvious one is the extent of involvement of the players. Batsmen in strong teams bat only once in around half the Tests they play. Au contraire, bowlers in strong teams bowl in both innings almost always. A top batsman could contribute nothing to his team's win, but it is rare that a top bowler contributes nothing to his team's win. However, I thought it would be worthwhile to bring out the performances by top batsmen in similar 20-Test streaks.

What Muralitharan did in the bowlers' tables, Don Bradman does in the batsmen's. Although he played in only 52 Tests, he managed to find two streaks in which he finished on either side of 3000 runs, which could be approximated to 150 wickets. Bradman is the only batsman with averages well in excess of 100 runs. Mohammad Yousuf, Kumar Sangakkara, Garry Sobers and Ricky Ponting had golden runs exceeding 2500 runs.

In the hundreds-scored stakes, Bradman again leads with 14 and 13 of them in his two streaks. In the first streak, Bradman didn't get to bat twice in eight Tests. In the second, 11 Tests. In the first streak he had scores of 304, 244, 270, 212, 234 and 201. The second one had scores of 254, 334, 232, 223, 226 and 299*.

Yousuf and Ponting chipped in with a dozen hundreds in their 'in-the-zone' periods. Dennis Compton, Sobers, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Mahela Jayawardene and Jacques Kallis have scored 11 hundreds in 20-Test spans once during their careers.

I would venture to say the 14-hundreds streak is possibly matched by streaks in which the bowlers captured 15 five-wicket hauls or more.

It is a matter of conjecture whether Ashwin would maintain his current form in the five home Tests to come. Australia has not exactly been doing well of late and there is nothing to prevent Ashwin from capturing 25-30 wickets in these four Tests. Four or more five-wicket hauls in these Tests would move him up the table. It is also likely that Bangladesh provides stiffer resistance to India, in general, and Ashwin, in particular.

Just as an appetizer to the Bangladesh and Australia series, let me give the top numbers for 25-Test streaks. Ashwin could aim for these since there are five home Tests to come. However I feel strongly that the lack of success at Chennai has put paid to Ashwin's aspirations to attack any of these marks.

Muralitharan: 192 wickets (2001-2004).

Barnes: 21 five-wicket hauls.

Muralitharan: 8 ten-wicket-for-match hauls (No change).

Bradman: 3772 runs & 16 hundreds.