Can Ashwin turn adversity into triumph?

BRISBANE: Ronald Wayne, Apple cofounder along with Jobs and Wozniack, sold his 10% stake for $2,300. It would have been worth $60 million now. Pete Best lost his place in the Beatles to Ringo Starr in 1962, just before the band hit the big payday. John Travolta turned down Tom Hanks' role in Forrest Gump. Bill Finger missed out on being co-credited for creating Batman.

And Ravichandran Ashwin got left out of the Indian side in Adelaide.

How Ashwin, whose overseas record is a very poor 12 wickets from six games at 64.5 and a strike rate of 122.7, must be ruing the day Virat Kohli decided to opt for Karn Sharma. India went on to lose at the venue and the absence of a potent off spinner was a decisive factor.

Ashwin sat and watched from the sidelines - and even engaged in some friendly banter with fans - as Nathan Lyon in the opposition ripped grenades into the rough and bagged the best-ever figures for a spinner against India.

Having missed out on the chance to improve his figures and maybe earn India a win, Ashwin, it seems, is now in the scheme of things for the Gabba, where the pace and bounce overshadows everything else. Cruel, cruel fate, Ashwin must be thinking. To add to the expectations, captain MS Dhoni said he thinks Ashwin has a good chance of putting up an impressive show if he plays.

Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja is out injured - he has a "left shoulder impingement," according to the team management - thrusting Ashwin firmly into the lead spinner's role.

Strangely, it was Ashwin's batting that Dhoni chose to talk about first. "Ashwin is definitely someone who can bat lower down the order. We feel that is very important...at times we have lost No.8, 9 and 10 cheaply. The batsman at the other end hasn't got support. It would be a great help to have someone like Ashwin at the other end because he not only spends time in the middle but also scores fluently.

"With Mitchell (Johnson) bowling left-arm over the wicket and others bowling round the wicket, there will be footmarks which an off-spinner will be able to exploit better than a left-arm spinner or a leg-spinner." Dhoni, incidentally said he prefers playing on greentops, since his bowlers have a better chance of bagging 20 wickets. "It makes our job easier to get the opposition out," he suggested, but playing five bowlers may be a gamble. "It is unfair on Rohit Sharma, who will be out after just playing a Test," Dhoni said when asked if he was considering the possibility.

India have picked up 20 wickets twice at the Gabba, and while the seamers are expected to do the bulk of the work, Ashwin may still get to play the surprise guest star. India's best-ever bowling figures here belong to legendary offie Erapalli Prasanna, with 6-104 in the 1967-68 Test.

There are other, more immediate examples. Nathan Lyon has taken 15 wickets at 21.86 in three Tests and repeatedly said he loves bowling here.

"Bounce is a big weapon for me, so I`m looking forward to getting a bit more bounce out there. I love playing at the Gabba, it's a great venue full stop," Lyon said at the start of the season, adding: "I'm confident in my skill to get the job done no matter what or where I play."

Ashwin needs to rip that page from Lyon's book if he gets an opportunity.

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