Is Ravichandran Ashwin's Two Player of the Match Award Winner Suggestion Possible? Pros & Cons Debate

ENG vs IND 2nd Test Sparks Debate

Highlighting the England vs India 2nd Test match in Birmingham, Ashwin stated that it should have been Akash Deep who should have been named the player of the match for taking 10 wickets in the match.

Instead, Shubman Gill, the Indian captain, received the trophy for his 436 runs, which, along with Akash's bowling performance, helped Team India manage to win the second Test by 336 runs, tying the series at 1-1 after the first two matches of the five-game series..

Ashwin said on his YouTube channel, “This will be a big statement, but I think Akash Deep should have gotten the Player of the Match award on a surface like that.”

However, the former Indian all-rounder didn't just stop there, but he talked about how the game is more batter-biased nowadays. In the end, to stop all these Player of the Match-related murmurs, Ashwin suggested that there should be two different Player of the Match awards for the batter and the bowler, respectively.

“In the IPL, you give super fours, super sixes, and the fastest delivery; why not have the bowler & batsman of the match in a Test too?” he added.

What really happened?

So why all of a sudden is Ashwin raising a question mark on the Player of the Match award in Test cricket?

The story actually starts with the Indian cricket team's 2nd Test match victory over England in Birmingham. Over the course of the five-game days, the Indian team put on an outstanding showing.

Team India put up 587 runs in their first innings while batting first. In this inning, Team India captain Shubman Gill played a wonderful knock as he scored a double-hundred, 269 runs off 387 balls.

Meanwhile, England, in pursuit of the score, were all out for 407 runs, with Harry Brook and Jamie Smith playing valuable innings. Akash Deep, who was playing in place of Jasprit Bumrah in this match, delivered a stellar performance with the ball, taking four wickets in the first inning for Team India.

Meanwhile, in the 2nd inning, Shubman Gill once again was the hero with the bat for the Indian cricket team. With a big 180-run lead already, Team India scored 427 runs. And once again, Shubman Gill was the best batter for Team India, who scored 161 runs off 162 balls.

England needed 608 runs to win the match. But they couldn't really trouble the Indian team, as Akash Deep led the bowling attack perfectly as he bagged a 6-wicket haul to complete 10 wickets in the match, including 4 wickets in the match.

After Team India won the match by 336 runs, India captain Shubman Gill was named the Player of the Match for his double hundred and 150+ score in the 2nd inning.

This is why there is a dispute over who should win Player of the Match. On social media, supporters said that Akash Deep, who was replacing Jasprit Bumrah, should have won the trophy, while others concurred with Gill as the player of the match.

Ashwin talked about this same topic on his YouTube channel. We have seen Ashwin get quite vocal about how the bowlers are treated unfairly. Despite the whole cricketing fraternity criticising a bowler for attempting a mankad run out on the non-striker end batter, Ashwin has been one of the very few who have always talked in favour of the bowlers. And it's a similar case here.

After Akash Deep was overlooked to award Shubman Gill the Player of the Match, Ashwin suggested that there should be two Player of the Match awards, one for the best batter and one for the best bowler. But is it really possible? Let's see.

Brief History of the Player of the Match Award in Test Cricket

The Player of the Match is now a tradition in the sport. The award concept was first introduced in the game of cricket in the 1970s, initially in limited overs cricket. In Test cricket, the award gained popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The purpose of this award is very simple: to highlight an individual player’s performance that was decisive in the outcome of the match.

In the long history of the game, we have seen the award being awarded to players for their iconic innings that shaped the match. The most iconic moments that the fans would remember would be former Indian batsman VVS Laxman getting the Player of the Match for his iconic 281-run knock at the Eden Gardens or Ben Stokes' memorable 135-run innings at Headingley in 2019.

Despite so many iconic player-of-the-match performances, this award has faced a lot of criticism from the fans. Just like Ashwin’s claim, fans have also raised their voice when, sometimes, a century or a double-century overshadows a brilliant bowling effort. Over the past decades, this discussion has been going on, but nothing has changed yet.

Modern games are batters' games; bowlers are undervalued

Meanwhile, a lot has changed in Test cricket in the modern day. It is not the same 1990s Test cricket anymore. The run rate has increased; the average run per over has climbed while pitch conditions vary in different places, with spin-friendly conditions in the Indian subcontinent and pace bowling conditions in England and South Africa.

Technology also has a major involvement in the sport nowadays. The bigger and heavy bats have made it easy to score runs, which has made the game quite unfair for the bowlers.

Giving deep thought to Ashwin’s point, it seems quite fair. When the game has only gotten better for the batters and worse for the bowlers, a bowler’s five-wicket haul in an inning should hold more value in a win than a century by a batter. Yet, we have seen the bowler’s contribution being overlooked to award the batter who scored a century.

Is Ashwin's claim genuine?

Former Indian cricket veteran spin bowler, in his latest video on his YouTube channel, claimed that there should be the best batter and best bowler awards in a Test match to award the contribution of both players.

In all fairness, Test cricket is the ultimate test of a player’s skill. It is a game between bat and ball, and recognising both crafts would really reflect the full story of a match, where the batter is credited for his team's batting performance while the bowler is credited for his team's bowling performance.

Why should a bowler’s five-wicket haul that includes breaking an important partnership that changed the momentum of the game in their favour go unnoticed for a batter who scored, for example, 150 runs on a flat, batting-friendly pitch?

Ashwin’s idea also acknowledges the different playing conditions. For example, on a spin-friendly pitch where the bowler picks 6 wickets but a batter scores a crucial 75 runs, which eventually helps his team to either win the match or draw the game, shouldn't go unnoticed.

Pros vs Cons of two Player of the Match Awards in Test Cricket

So, now let's have a debate: what are the pros of having two individual players awarded in a Test match, and what really are the cons that make it an impossible reality?

Pros

Fair Recognition for Different Roles

One of the major advantages of having two best players awarded for their performance, a batter and a bowler, is that both roles will get their deserved recognition. Test cricket is the game of two main skills, batting and bowling. A batter’s responsibility is to score runs and build innings, facing off against quality bowling attacks.

Meanwhile, a bowler works hard for a day or two to take wickets, break partnerships, and control run flow, many times on pitches that have nothing to support the bowlers; in cricket terms, we call it a batting-friendly flat pitch. Awarding only one player favours recognising one role, overshadowing the performance of the other role.

For example, a batter being awarded the Player of the Match award for his century despite a bowler taking a five-wicket haul would be an injustice to the bowler. However, even awarding the bowler would give much-needed recognition to the bowler.

Encouraging Bowlers in Batters' Game

In modern-day cricket has become the batters’ game. Flat batting pitches and the aggressive batting approaches have hugely made cricket the game of batters, and only the best of the bowlers are able to prove themselves in front of the world.

For bowlers, this has become just watching the batters play wonderful shots to their bowling and waiting for the batter to make mistakes and lose his wicket. In such a situation, recognising a bowler for his performance would just do the world of motivation for the bowler.

Cricket is a team sport, not an individual game

We must also note that cricket is a team sport and not an individual sport like tennis or badminton. Test matches are especially won by collective efforts from the team over the five-day duration of the game. In such a scenario, awarding an individual player for his performance completely takes out the narrative that cricket is a team sport.

However, awarding two players for their performance would reflect the team effort perfectly, where the batter contributed to his team’s win by scoring runs while the bowler contributed by taking crucial wickets in tense situations of the game.

Cons

Taking away the prestige of the Player of the Match award

The player of the match award has built its own legacy as the singular award designated to recognise the individual player who played the most significant role in turning the game's outcomes in his team's favour.

Awarding two different players might just make the player of the match award lose all its prestige it has built over the last three to four decades. It may, at a time, feel like it's just a participation trophy. There might be an argument that the player of the match should remain an important award for the best player in the match, be it a batter or a bowler.

Undervaluing the all-rounders

Meanwhile, having two best players awarded for a single Test match could undervalue the contributions of the all-rounders. All-rounders who excel with both bat and ball would be disadvantaged by having separate awards.

An all-rounder can be rewarded with the player of the match award for their contribution with the bat and ball, reinforcing their values in the team. However, what if an all-rounder scores a century and also takes five wickets? Do they get both the awards? Or neither? Did a batter or a bowler get his recognition? There will be lots of questions.

Test Cricket is a Simple Format

It must be noted that Test cricket is the simplest format of cricket during the days when there are more fancy formats like ODI, T20, T10, and various leagues like The Hundred. Simplicity is the biggest charm of Test cricket.

Introducing the two best players of the match awards will mean that great cricket will also become a fancy format like T20 cricket, which might disrupt the purity of the game. The current system, though not the best in many regards, had been in place for many years and had worked well for the cricket viewers.

Where cricket goes from here would be exciting. The game has entered the modern day, where the fans want more than just the old-school cricket. So, is it a good idea to award the two best players in a Test match? Or is it better to keep the game the same as it has been for more than 100 years?

England vs India Test series hangs in the balance

At present, the England versus India five-match Test series remains evenly poised. The series is currently tied 1-1 after the first two matches of the series. The hosts, England, won the first Test match in Leeds, followed by Team India’s win in Birmingham in the 2nd Test.

The first two Test matches have been significantly different compared to what a traditional Test match would look like in England. Instead of some amazing pace bowling on green tops, we have seen high-scoring matches on batting-friendly surfaces in Leeds and Birmingham.

In both matches, we have seen over 1500 runs scored in a match. It was England who won the first Test in Leeds. But it was a solid performance from the Indian team. A total of 5 centuries were scored by the team India batters; Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, and wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant scored centuries in both innings.

However, England was not far behind. While India scored 471 runs in the first inning, England scored 465 runs with a century from Ollie Pope and a 99-run inning from Harry Brook. And then it was Ben Duckett who scored 149 runs to help England win the match to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

The 2nd Test match was played at the Edgbaston Ground in Birmingham. And it was a totally controlled match from Team India.

The Indian team scored 587 runs in the first inning thanks to captain Shubman Gill’s double-century in the inning as he scored 269 runs, combined with solid performances from Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ravindra Jadeja.

England scored 407 runs in this match, but they were in total trouble in this inning, once finding themselves 5 wickets down for 85 runs. But Harry Brook and Jamie Smith scored 158 runs and 184 unbeaten runs to help England reach 407 runs.

Team India took a massive 180-run first-inning lead. And then they scored 427 runs in the 2nd inning, with captain Shubman Gill scoring 161 runs off 162 balls with half-centuries from KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, and Ravindra Jadeja.

Later, they bowled out the England team for 271 runs despite a valiant 88-run inning from Jamie Smith. Akash Deep was the standout performer with the ball for Team India. He picked 4 wickets in the first innings and continued his brilliant performance in the 2nd innings with a 6-wicket haul, making it 10 wickets in the match.

Replacing Jasprit Bumrah, India's top bowler, was a big deal for Akash Deep, as he stepped into the playing XI when Bumrah was rested.

England vs India 3rd Test in London

The 3rd England vs India Test match is scheduled to be played at the ‘Home of Cricket’, Lord’s Cricket Ground in London, starting from 10 July 2025.

It was England captain Ben Stokes who won the toss in London and opted to bat first. Openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett were dismissed in quick succession after scoring 18 and 23 runs, respectively, by Nitish Kumar Reddy.

Ollie Pope scored 44 runs before being dismissed by Ravindra Jadeja, while Harry Brook could only score 11 runs this time. But, at the end of day 1’s play, the England cricket team has scored 251 runs for the loss of 4 wickets, with Joe Root the best batter for the hosts, batting at 99 runs, needing one run to reach the milestone.