Fifty years later, when someone sits down to write the history of Indian cricket in the 21st century, there will surely be a chapter on the spin trio that is ruling this era on their home grounds.
While R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are the two superstars with more than 700 Test wickets between them, the third wing of the attack, Axar Patelit is also a big threat.
“The record that Axar has with both bat and ball, it’s not even a discussion of whether he can be kept out of the XI under these conditions,” India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour said on Friday.
Axar may not have made such an impact with the ball in the first Test but his bat caused the talk as he scored a decisive 84 to take the match away from Australia.
It’s a huge plus that all three can bat as well. Ashwin and Jadeja also made helpful contributions which resulted in the emphatic victory at Nagpur.
For Rohit, it’s an abundance issue that he’s absolutely loving at the moment.
“It’s like captaining Cummins, Hazlewood and Starc in Australia. When you have Axar, Jadeja and Ash playing on courses like these, it’s always a blessing,” said the skipper.
While Ashwin has tremendous variety, Jadeja can throw it faster in the air and can spin one so much that well-placed hitters are in one spot. Axar, on the other hand, is similar to Jadeja, but gets more bounce due to his height and can be as relentless as the player from Saurashtra.
“The conditions are there for everyone, but what they extract from those makes them really special. They’ve played a lot on these courts and they know which areas to hit, how to keep applying that pressure,” said Rohit, explaining the influence the three they had on the test match.
What makes it even more special is the fact that despite the respect they have for each other, there is healthy competition. Also on Saturday, as India were marching to victory, Ashwin wanted to have his five wicket haul while Jadeja was keen to complete 250 Test wickets.
Axar, on the other hand, had played less and was keen to get between wickets, making the choice difficult for Rohit.
“It’s a bit tough. They are all achieving their goals. Jadeja was on 249 wickets and she was saying to me, ‘mere ko ball de.’ Ashwin had four wickets and wanted five and that was the challenge I was facing” Rohit said.
Then, with three boys performing so well, there’s also the question of what end to bring them. There is often rougher at one end, as is the case with Jamtha, and all three spinners would prefer that. Rohit says it’s up to him to decide which end fits which bowler, and that too is a challenge in itself.
“The pressure is always on me to find the right end for the right one. It’s a challenge and I try to play a bit of match-up too and Ash has a good match-up against southpaws, while Jadeja and Axar are incredible against right-handers. So I try to keep these things in mind as I rotate them,” added Rohit.
Is Ashwin the pack leader? “He’s nearing 100 Tests. Lots of cricket and overs have been used to develop skills. He can bowl that carrom ball, topspin and sliders. He’s very studious and likes to understand his game,” said Rohit .
