Ravichandran Ashwin's individual brilliance secured many victories for India, says Rangana Herath

Since September 1982, Sri Lanka have participated in 22 Test matches in India, with a record of 13 losses and the remainder ending in draws. Despite the similarities in pitch conditions between the two countries, the 1996 World Cup champions have found it challenging to compete on Indian soil, a puzzling anomaly that defies explanation.

What he couldn’t achieve as a player for his country, Herath did with New Zealand in October-November. Under new captain Tom Latham, the Kiwis stunned the cricketing world by crushing India 3-0 in their own backyard. It was India’s first series loss at home in 12 years; it was also the first time India had been swept at home in a series of more than two Tests.

Herath was New Zealand’s spin consultant on that tour – and on the preceding tour of Sri Lanka, which the Kiwis surrendered 0-2 – and oversaw a spectacular campaign marked by wonderful displays in Pune and Mumbai respectively by left-arm spinners Mitchell Santner and Ajaz Patel. That especially delighted the 46-year-old, who retired from Test cricket in November 2018 after a 93-match career that netted him 433 wickets. Herath is the only left-arm spinner to take more than 400 Test wickets, though he had to bide his time, truly coming into his own only after Muttiah Muralitharan retired in July 2010 with an unprecedented 800 Test wickets.

“That’s a very big achievement,” acknowledges Herath, who moved to Australia with his family some two and a half years ago, of the triumph in India. “I played many years for Sri Lanka, we never won a Test match in India. Winning a series 3-0 in their soil, that's very special. In every game, they gave their 100%, which you expect. But the victory was the result of playing proper and smart cricket.

“To be honest, I still can remember it clearly, the first discussions revolved around the challenges of playing in India,” he deep-dives into dressing-room conversations. “They didn't talk about winning a game, but about the challenges and about finding solutions. Those were the discussions early on. But I know that in their minds, they felt that if they could win one game in India, it would be a very good achievement. That was their initial thought.”

New Zealand couldn’t believe their good fortune when India chose to bat in Bengaluru in the first Test in heavily overcast conditions on a pitch that had sweated for four days. “What I’ve noticed with the New Zealand team is that be it batting or bowling, they take their responsibilities very seriously, they always stress on accountability. Victory in the first Test, that was the main starting point because in Bangalore, India were bowled out for 46. After that, we all thought, ‘If we can win one game, why can't we win another?’ That was the mindset. They never talked about 3-0, they wanted to take it one game at a time, they broke it down into small pieces -- what they needed to do to win that particular period, that particular situation. That's a very good learning for any team, wherever you go, against whoever you play. You need to stick to the basics, win the small, little pieces so that the big piece takes care of itself.”

Even though they lost to his home country, Herath believes the tour of Sri Lanka shortly before they embarked for India helped the Kiwis immensely. “It's all about discussions,” Herath replies when you ask him what the difference in the New Zealand mode of attack was between Sri Lanka and India. “I didn't say that you need to do this, you need to do that. It's all about how we can get better. The results didn't go our way in Sri Lanka, but they got an idea of what kind of length and what kind of pace they needed to bowl on in subcontinental pitches. It was a very good learning experience, playing against Sri Lanka. While they are not the exact same surfaces, there are plenty of similarities between pitches in India and Sri Lanka. That proved beneficial for the spinners.

“Also, the Sri Lankan batsmen, they batted brilliantly,” he chuckles. “(Dinesh) Chandimal, Kamindu Mendis, Angelo (Mathews), a few others as well. They batted well throughout that series.”

Talk soon shifts to the recently retired R Ashwin, and you can sense Herath’s admiration and respect instantaneously. “I would like to congratulate him for having a brilliant career,” he says. “Taking over 500 Test wickets is not an easy thing; he scored a lot of runs as well, six hundreds. He basically won a lot of games for India on his own, I wish him well for his future endeavours. I'm sure for every sportsperson, they know when the time comes that we need to take that decision (of retiring). I am confident Ashwin has considered every element and every aspect before arriving at that decision. Retirement is an entirely individual thing. I know he's such a clever guy, he's a very smart bowler.”

‘Jadeja very different as a left-arm spinner’: Herath

In Ashwin’s retirement, the responsibility on Ravindra Jadeja to step up and deliver will become even more. Jadeja is a proven performer, with 319 wickets from 78 Tests at an excellent average of 24.05. Though they are both left-arm spinners, there is a world of difference between Herath and Jadeja. “It's different. I mean, completely different setups of skills between us,” Herath points out. “If you take me, I relied on my loop, my drift… But Jaddu is completely different. He tends to go a bit faster and hit a bit of a back of length. That's a different skill, he has an excellent understanding of that. If he can keep doing it, the batters will come under pressure. That's how he creates opportunities and takes wickets. There are conditions where it is not easy to play against him. On subcontinental pitches, it’s not easy to bat with that pace because if you bowl with good accuracy, life becomes very difficult. When it comes to Australia, maybe he isn’t as effective, but he is still able to maintain that line and length. In that scenario, it's all about how you adjust and read those surfaces at the time of bowling.”

When he is not on assignment – he will most likely travel with the New Zealand team to Pakistan and the UAE for the Champions Trophy next month – Herath does a lot of one-on-one coaching and is amazed by the number of ‘smart’ spinners in Australia. “You don’t get a lot of help from the pitches here except for bounce, so you need to know how to defend with the fields and how to attack with the lines,” he notes, before turning his focus on Nathan Lyon, the exceptional off-spinner who is hot on Ashwin’s heels with 533 wickets from 132 Tests.

“He's a classical off-spinner. I always used to see videos of him because he doesn't have a lot of variation, he largely relies on accuracy. He trusts himself, he believes in his strengths,” Herath observes. “He is a guy that doesn’t bowl with a lot of flight or anything, he bowls close to maybe 90, 92 (Kmph) most of the time. But he's kind of a tall guy and he likes to always rely on his length and bounce. Taking more than 500 Test wickets, especially as a spinner in Australia, that's no mean feat. Credit to him for the way he has bowled all these years. There are many young cricketers who are keen to follow in his footsteps.”

After a bit of a lull, Sri Lankan cricket seems to have rediscovered its mojo across formats and the national team is still in the running for a place in the final of the World Test Championship. “I'm so happy that the guys are giving their 100%,” Herath crows. “What I focus on is the decision-making, whether they are taking those decisions proactively, and that’s what they are doing now. It’s all about the little margins. Sri Lanka are doing well and once you get that confidence, that will remain in their minds, like muscle memory. I'm sure they will carry forward that momentum for the upcoming series as well (at home against Australia).”

It's no coincidence that Sri Lanka’s fortunes have turned around since former captain Sanath Jayasuriya came on board, first as interim coach and then as the full-time coach towards the middle of this year. “Sanath is a character that needs to win every single game,” Herath says of his former teammate. “Sanath is a very hard-working guy. He knows the kind of language that the Sri Lankan players need to be addressed in. It's good to have a local coach for that set-up, he's doing a wonderful job.”

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