Test cricket will see two players featuring in their 100th game together for only the fourth time when India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and England batter Jonny Bairstow take the field in Dharamsala on March 7.
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For R. Ashwin and Jonny Bairstow, this week at the foothills of the imposing Dhauladhar mountain ranges would coincide with their scaling ‘Peak 100’ in Tests.
When the fifth and final India-England Test opens here on Thursday, the duo would share the milestone of playing the 100th Test.
No doubt, Ashwin’s journey has been more glorious and comes days after he took the 500th Test wicket in a winning cause. In contrast, Bairstow still has not been in the best of forms with the bat in the series.
As Ashwin said, “A lot of things need to go your way when you have to get a breakthrough and also continue playing for so many years.”
Long journey
Indeed. Since his debut against the West Indies in Delhi in 2011, the off-spinner has come a long way.
Looking back, Ashwin chose to mention the 2012 England’s tour to India during which he learnt lessons that were to stand him in good stead.
“One of the turning points of my life was the England series when (Alastair) Cook came here and made all those runs along with (Kevin) Pietersen, who had a great game in Mumbai. It has been spoken about a lot. Leading into the next series against Australia at home, there was a lot of noise about me being left out of the team.
“And that is a wonderful lesson I have still kept with me all these years. Whatever happens, we can hold a lot of complaints against somebody external or blame it on another individual. But for me, if you look internally, you can improve at least by another five per cent.
“Until and unless there is something wrong with you, people aren’t going to throw punches at you or point fingers at you…”
Ashwin graciously acknowledged the role played by S. Badrinath, Mithun Manhas, and Rajat Bhatia during the days before he made it big. “These are some of the greatest batters of spin who I would have not wanted to encounter in international cricket. They were my finishing school before I went on to play international cricket.”
On his part, Bairstow declared, “Playing 100 Tests means a hell of a lot. It will be an emotional week for me.”
Bairstow, like Ashwin, made his debut against the West Indies but in 2012.
“No matter what it is, I’ll be going out there, chewing my gum, puffing my chest out and trying to have a good time with the other 10 blokes out there. Whatever the situation is, we’ll be going out there with smiles on our faces, like we have done in the whole series.”