India’s One Man Army- Ravichandran Ashwin

He is accurate, agile and ready to pounce upon the available opportunities. He amazes you every time he steps onto the cricket field. He has such a close bonding with the turf that, at times it turns and bounces as per his will. A smart cricketing brain with decisive variations, Ravichandran Ashwin is currently the best spinner on every parameter. He can bowl with the new as well as with the old ball. Some useful contributions with the bat make him a must have choice for a captain. In the recently concluded series against New Zealand he again broke many records with his exceptional bowling. Let us have a look at some of the records that he already had and broke in the start of this home season.

Ashwin became the only Indian bowler to have taken 7 fivers in a calendar year (2015). Previously three Indian bowlers have taken 6 five wicket hauls in a year- Subhash Gupte in 1955, Harbhajan Singh in 2001 and Anil Kumble in 2004.

Ashwin is currently placed 4 in the list of Indian bowlers with most fivers in Test Cricket. Ravichandran Ashwin now has 21 Five-Wicket hauls in 39 Test Matches only. Kumble leads the list with 35 fivers followed by Harbhajan Singh (25) and the legendary Kapil Dev (23).

Ashwin has now bagged most Man of the Series awards (7) by an Indian overtaking the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag, both of them had 5 each. Most importantly he achieved this unique feat in just 39 Tests.

Ashwin (220 wickets) broke Australia’s Clarrie Grimmett’s record (216 wickets) of most wickets by any bowler in first 39 Tests.  Legendary Pakistan Fast Bowler Waqar Younis had 208, Australian Great Dennis Lillee and South African Speedster Dale Steyn had 204 in Same Number of Test Matches.

Ashwin currently leads the chart for most wickets in 2016 with 44 scalps. Following him are England’s Pace duo of Stuart Broad and James Anderson with 38 and 37 wickets respectively.

Ashwin’s bowling average of 17.81 is the third best for any spinner with 50 wickets in a calendar year.

Ashwin’s strike rate of 34.20 is the second best by a bowler who has taken 50+ wickets in a calendar year.

Only 2 Indians have taken 2 TEN-Wicket Hauls in a Series. Harbhajan Singh in 2001 against Australia and R Ashwin against New Zealand in 2016.

4 Number of 12-Wicket haul for Ashwin. Joint Second most by any Bowler. Only Sri Lankan Legend Muttiah Muralitharan has more such hauls that is 6.

3 Number of Players have won the Man of the Series Awards in Four Consecutive Test Series. R Ashwin is the third one after Imran Khan and Malcolm Marshall.

5 Number of Five-Wicket Hauls by Ashwin against New Zealand in Tests, Most by an Indian. Bedi, Prasanna, Gupte and Zaheer had 4 Five-fors.

R Ashwin is the third Fastest to take 20 Five-Wicket Hauls in Tests. S Barnes in 25 Tests and C Grimmer in 37 Tests are the fastest to do it.