Ravichandran Ashwin in the ongoing England series became the highest wicket taker for India with 26 wickets and had a huge role to play in India’s 4-1 victory. Ravichandran Ashwin in the process also became the second Indian spinner to surpass 500 wicket mark.
As India geared up for their first test series in 2024 at home soil versus the Bazball infused England team from 25th January 2024 in conquest to the top spot in the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 table , all eyes were on experienced and veteran offspinner of India Ravichandran Ashwin . Indian ace off spinner on home pitches Ravichandran Ashwin has an impeccable record versus England and would love to continue the same in the upcoming series.
Ravichandran Ashwin who stood on 490 wickets was set to become second Indian spinner after legendary Anil Kumble (619 wickets) to become the second Indian spinner who will surpass 500 wickets mark in the upcoming test series vs England.
Ravichandran Ashwin as an effective All Rounder
Meanwhile a potential all rounder at number 8, Ravichandran Ashwin who started his first class and school age cricket as an opening batter for his home team Tamil Nadu, is no geek with the bat having an average of 23.69 in tests with a strike rate of 51.48 inclusive of 5 test centuries out of which one came in the last series versus the Englishmen at home in Chennai where he and the other century man Rohit Sharma on a sluggish Chennai wicket helped India won a match.
With the ball on Indian pitches versus any opposition over a decade now Ashwin has been a threat since his test debut in 2011 having taken over the mantle of Indian spin legacy from the likes of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh successfully. His bowling figures at home stands an impressive at 337 wickets from 55 matches only with a best of 7 for 59 inclusive of 26 five wickets haul and 6 ten wickets hauls in both innings of a test match.
Ashwin has an impeccable record versus the Englishmen at home and away and in this series requires just eight more wickets to become India’s leading wicket taker versus England in tests. In this series where records would galore for Ravichandran Ashwin, he could be the only second bowler to complete 100 wickets in India -England tests after James Anderson(139 wickets).
Also Ashwin requires only 13 wickets to complete 350 test wickets at home. In the process Ashwin can also become second Indian bowler after Anil Kumble (895) to deliver 600 maiden overs in Tests in India . With so many records in sight it is evident that Ravichandran Ashwin will be an impending threat on the English batters. Former Indian cricketer coach and now star commentator Ravi Shastri that the old and wise fox in Ravichandran Ashwin still is ripe with ideas and has many tricks up his sleeves against the English batters.
Ravichandran Ashwin who now stands on 490 wickets is set to become second Indian spinner after legendary Anil Kumble (619 wickets) to become the second Indian spinner who will surpass 500 wickets mark in the upcoming test series.
However the same proved correct as in the 3rd test at Rajkot Ravichandran Ashwin became the second Indian spinner to surpass 500th wicket mark and continued his dominance in the series becoming India’s leading wicket taker with 26 wickets in the series which India won 4-1 to their credit. Post an emphatic series win the ace Indian off spinner opened up upon the Bazball technique used by England and how it was fruitless in subcontinental conditions .
Bazball isn’t just aggressive cricket- Ravichandran Ashwin
Team India’s off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin recently shared his take on England’s Bazball approach following the five match test series between two cricketing giants.
Ashwin opined that England came to India with a mindset of playing attacking cricket. He suggested that the visitors had decided they weren’t going to trust their defense. Speaking in his latest You tube video, the veteran Indian spinner remarked :
“The one thing that I personally understood after the first Test is that Bazball isn’t just aggressive cricket, it is defenseless cricket. They aren’t going to play a defensive shot at all. They are going to get out if they play defence,”
Ashwin also expressed surprise at England’s star batter Joe Root tweaking his natural game to suit the team’s plans. He said:
“To my surprise, Joe Root also agreed to their game plan. Because if you take world cricket’s best defence rankings, Joe Root is an easy number 1 on that list against spin,”
All five matches of the series produced results. Ashwin claimed that had Australia played against India on the same pitches, there would have been a couple of draws.
“There were many times in this series when I thought, if this were against Australia instead of England, we could have seen two draws instead of results. At least one, because of the classic cricket pitches. But because of this new English approach to going for the kill, they put us under very unique pressure. Them playing three sessions is equal to us playing six in terms of runs scored, and so every match was bound to go for a result,” Ashwin added.
England kicked off the tour with a 28-run win over India in Hyderabad. However, they failed to replicate the same in the remaining fixtures. The Men in Blue ultimately completed a 4-1 series victory. England’s Bazball template is facing massive flak back at home following a 1-4 defeat in the Test series. Michael Vaughan and Nasser Hussain have questioned the surrender of the Ben Stokes-led team.