‘Calculated in his decisions, yet relaxed’ – Miller describes Ashwin the captain

R Ashwin has a reputation of being a thinking cricketer, which has been evident from his consistently changing approach to the game, his variations with the ball and the ability to bat higher up the order in Test cricket for India. An off-spinner, he is even experimenting with bowling leg-breaks to keep himself relevant.

One skill that he hasn’t had too much opportunity to demonstrate is leadership. The 30-year-old has led his state side Tamil Nadu in the domestic first-class Ranji Trophy, but with the likes of MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli in the Indian side, he hasn’t had a shot at national captaincy.

Now, the 11th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) gives fans a chance to see Ashwin, the captain, as he takes charge of Kings XI Punjab. He got a win on captaincy debut, an easy six-wicket victory over Delhi Daredevils.

David Miller, the South Africa middle-order batsman and Ashwin’s teammate in KXIP, agreed with the assessment that the team’s new captain was calculated in his approach.

"From what I have gathered, he is very calculated. He thinks about the game very well; every decision he makes, there is a reason why he does that," said Miller.

“So far, it [his captaincy style] is pretty relaxed, pretty low-key, letting guys do what they need to do. That is the most important thing. He knows a lot about the game and he thinks a lot about the game.”

Bowler captains aren't that common in cricket. It adds an extra responsibility on the cricketer to be clear of injuries, to resist the temptation to over-bowl or under-bowl themselves.

Miller, however, didn’t see that as a problem for Ashwin. "I don’t know if it makes so much of a difference if it is a fast bowler or a spin bowler, but so far he has been pretty good," he said.

“He has been in a sort of position to set the fields. Obviously Twenty20 is a quick and fast format. The longer a format is, a lot more overs, the longer spells that you bowl, the more you get tired. Here it is only about bowling four overs.”

"I am a great fan of a bowling captain,” Virender Sehwag, former India opener and now KXIP mentor said recently. “I watched Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Wasim Akram as captains. In India generally you don't give captaincy to bowlers, but hopefully after Virat [Kohli] some bowler will become the captain.”

Ashwin, himself, is not looking too far ahead on the leadership front. Keen to build a positive environment, he is clear on what he wants to achieve: “My focus is on being strategically ahead of other [IPL] captains.”