CHENNAI (TIP): It was late August and R Ashwin was playing a T20 game against West Indies in Florida. On a small ground, the Indian bowlers had conceded 245, with Ashwin finishing with 2-39 off three overs.

A commentator asked him at the end of the innings if he was worried about his recent “indifferent form” in the shortest version of the game. Ashwin looked straight at the commentator with the smile still intact and said: “It’s surprising to hear about my indifferent form. As far as I am concerned, I feel I have been the No. 1 strike bowler for my team in the shorter version.”

That’s Ashwin for you – a man with extreme self-belief who never stops backing himself at difficult times. A cricketer’s life is a topsy-turvy ride with a bad day in office lurking round every corner. In an age of extreme scrutiny, anything that is not top drawer gets magnified, but Ashwin’s biggest strength is that he never loses faith in himself. Forget the numbers, it has been spoken of time and again -it’s the man of steel behind the smiling face that makes Ashwin the No. 1 cricketer.

The first half of 2016 didn’t indicate that he would end up with the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy. Ashwin had bowled a crucial no-ball in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup against West Indies that fetched a wicket. Lendl Simmons stayed on and ensured India‘s ouster from the tournament where they were overwhelming favourites. By the offspinner’s own admission, he felt that the entire nation was pointing finger at him for the defeat. It can break many careers, but not Ashwin’s.

He let the storm die down -he knew there was a West Indies tour followed by a couple of home series coming up. And what he has done since then will probably become Indian cricket folklore. He has smashed one record after another, scored runs at crucial junctures and even making Kapil Dev say, “Ashwin is better than me as an all-rounder.”

But that’s only part of the story. The Ashwin saga of 2016 is of a man who is at the peak of his creative powers. India have produced many offspinners in recent times. There have been quite a few who have been successful as well, but hardly anyone who makes the art of spin bowling look beautiful. No wonder, L Sivaramakrishnan says, “Ashwin purely deserves the award for reviving the art of spin bowling at the highest level.”

Take the recently-concluded Chepauk Test against England for example. He was closing in on a record -that of the fastest to 250 wickets in Tests – ahead of Dennis Lillee.

But the record didn’t happen and Ashwin went for 217 runs with one wicket to show. But anyone who has followed the Test would know how well the Chennai boy bowled.

The flight, the loop, the subtle changes of pace -it was an exhibition of an artist at work on a dead pitch. A catch was dropped off him in the first over of the fifth day, but it was Ashwin who created the pressure at one end as Ravindra Jadeja ran away with the rewards.

The Ashwin-Jadeja combo is a crucial cog in the Chennai man’s success story. They are vastly different characters -one is the erudite intellectual, the other a bit of a maverick. But when it comes to performing on the field, the way they complement each other is a treat. “Ask Ashwin and he will tell you how big a role Jadeja plays in Ashwin taking the wickets,” Virat Kohli said the other day after India won at Chepauk. While Jadeja stifles at one end with his nagging line and length, it’s Ashwin who expresses himself with his subtle variations which makes life difficult for batsmen. “You know, I won’t mind captaining these two together,” Alastair Cook explained how difficult it is to play the two together.

While Jadeja isn’t much of a thinker, Ashwin’s mind seems to be a laboratory of ideas. Talk to him during a break in international cricket and he will invariably tell you he is working on some new idea. It can be a new delivery or a new method to get the star opposition batsman out. He will never say it before the series, but Ashwin invariably targets the No. 1 batsman in the opposition ranks.

That’s why it’s Kumar Sangakkara who falls to him time and again when India play Sri Lanka, Kane Williamson when it’s New Zealand or Joe Root when it’s England. Unlike many in his profession, Ashwin loves watching the game even when he is not playing it -at times he is an enthusiast and a cricketer rolled into one.

The other crucial element that has worked wonders in favour of Ashwin is Kohli’s rise to Test captaincy. Just after a Test match against Bangladesh in Dhaka, Ashwin had said: “Even if Kohli errs, it will be on the attacking side.”

The statement showed that the two are on the same page and Kohli has given him the freedom to express himself. The fact that the skipper promoted him to bat at No.6 in Tests was also a boost, not just in his batting but to his entire approach as a cricketer.

Ashwin started believing that he could realize his own potential. And how well he has done it in 2016!