Ravichandran Ashwin: Emerging as India’s biggest match-winner in Tests
Ravichandran Ashwin notched up his 400th Test wicket during the recent pink-ball Test against England in Ahmedabad. He took only 77 matches to achieve it, making him the second-fastest to the feat after Muttiah Muralitharan. With all these records to his name, Ashwin is already a legend. Captain Virat Kohli even said after the match, that he has started calling him a legend after this feat.
If we sit and analyse all the Test matches which India has won at home since Ashwin’s debut, we see a pattern. The off-spinner has taken more wickets than anyone for India after he made his debut. Along with all these scalps what Ashwin does with the bat is also invaluable. He has scored 2643 runs at an average of 28.11 with five centuries and 11 half-centuries to his name. These runs which he provides down the order has often been the difference between his team and the opposition.
.@ashwinravi99 on Thursday made his way into the record books for another milestone in Test cricket!#INDvENG #Ashwin pic.twitter.com/9H8iMddFzg
— 100MB (@100MasterBlastr) February 26, 2021
Test cricket has always given an opportunity for the batsmen to score more and more runs. For the longest periods, Indian teams struggled to find a bowling unit that can take 20 wickets in a Test match. But, Ashwin’s resurgence as a spin-bowler has given an opportunity for the batsmen to go home after scoring runs with a win. His overseas numbers were questioned several times but in the recent Border Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, he proved that he is as effective as ever on a pitch that doesn’t aid spin bowling.
But, the road ahead will be full of challenges for Ashwin. He will play six Tests in England (If India qualify for the ICC World Test Championship final) later this year. With another set of tricks ready with him, there is no doubt that he will be looking to perform well. Even the great Muttiah Muralitharan had once said that if anyone is capable of getting to his record, that has to be Ravichandran Ashwin.
At 34, Ashwin looks quite fit and ready to take up the challenges of Test cricket in the next few years. It can’t be said if he will get to the record set by Muralitharan or Anil Kumble, but nevertheless, he will go down as one of the biggest match-winners for India in the history of Test cricket.
