More compellingly, of nine bowlers with 500-plus Test wickets, Ashwin’s strike rate (50.73 balls per wicket) is the best.
These are remarkable numbers for a player once seen as a white-ball specialist, rising to prominence with the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting in 2009.
Ashwin’s IPL success was instant, leading to his international debut for India in 2010 in ODIs and T20s.
He was part of the 2011 World Cup-winning squad under MS Dhoni, serving as Harbhajan Singh’s understudy. His white-ball exploits bolstered his reputation, but Ashwin’s true greatness unfolded in Test cricket.
When selected for his Test debut against West Indies in November 2011, sceptics claimed his inclusion was influenced by then chief of the Indian cricket board N Srinivasan, who also owned the CSK franchise in the IPL.
Ashwin silenced critics with a stellar nine-wicket haul, being named man of the match and cementing his place in the team within a year.
Spin bowling has been India’s pride for decades, led by legends such as Bishan Singh Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna, external, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, external, and Srinivas Venkataraghavan, external, whose artistry secured historic series wins in the 1970s.
Anil Kumble, with 619 wickets, proved that India’s spin dominance extended to the modern era, followed by Harbhajan Singh, Ashwin, and Jadeja.
