India’s spin bowling lynchpin Ravichandran Ashwin is at a stage of his career where he is creating a record in every Test match he is playing. Earlier this month, Ravichandran Ashwin captured his 500th wicket in the third Test match of the India-England series becoming the second Indian bowler after legendary Anil Kumble and just the ninth bowler to achieve the feat.
In the first week of March 2024, Ravichandran Ashwin will be playing in his 100th Test match. He will be only the 14th cricketer, among 313 Indian Test players ever, to play in 100 Tests for India. It won’t be wrong to say that Ravichandran Ashwin will leave a massive legacy for the next crop of cricketers.
Indian spin magnificent Ravichandran Ashwin receives special praise from Ricky Ponting ahead of 100th Test match.
Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has lauded Ravichandran Ashwin as the Indian spinner gears up for his 100th Test outing at Dharamshala. The Tasmanian has said that Ravichandran Ashwin has constantly evolved as a bowler , having coached him at Delhi Capitals.
R Ashwin played his 100th Test for India when the Dharamsala Test between India and England began at the HPCA stadium. With 507 Test wickets to his name, Ashwin is India’s second most successful bowler in Tests. The only Indian bowler ahead of Ashwin is Anil Kumble who finished his career with a staggering 619 wickets. Ashwin has also become the oldest cricketer to have played the 100th Test.
Ponting heaped praise on off-spinner on achieving the landmark of 100 Tests when he spoke to International Cricket Council (ICC). Ponting called Ashwin a master of spin and an incredible cricketer in an interview to ICC. The former Aussie captain said that Ashwin has got many philosophies and theories which he really likes.
“He’s a master of spin in any conditions. He’s been an incredible cricketer, no doubt about it. I had a chance to coach him for a couple of years at Delhi, and loved working with him. He’s got a lot of theories and philosophies on the game, which I really like. He’s always done things a little bit differently and done things his own way. But he just continued to evolve as a bowler,”
While Ashwin is a bonafide wicket taker he also is the handy lower order batter for India having scored 3300 runs in 99 tests with 5 centuries and 124 runs being his highest test score.
Ricky Ponting exclaims what he loves about Ravichandran Ashwin’s game.
The two time World Champion captain recalled how Ashwin is always looking for that little tweak to get better. Ponting added :
“That’s the thing that I loved about him when I was coaching him, he’d stand at the end of his mark and he’d be working on something different, a little tweak to his action or a change of grip or a different delivery. He’s never been one that was going to die wondering about trying to find ways to get better.”
In 99th tests Ravichandran Ashwin has claimed 507 test wickets only second to Anil Kumble’s 619 test wicket mark and also has 35 -5 -wicket hauls to his name. Come 100th test at Dharamshala, the Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin would love to make it special with a match winning performance and it would be an icing on the Legends celebration if India wins the series 4-1 at Dharamshala gathering valuable WTC points to their kitty.