A cricket fan once remarked that Ravichandran Ashwin has as many blades in his game as a Swiss army knife has in its hilt. That is an apt way to describe the cricketer who is being hailed nowadays as India’s saviour when the times are difficult. A spin bowling all rounder is a rarity in modern day cricket and so his presence is an asset to team India.
Ashwin’s stupendous success is unparalleled. He has drawn comparisons with many of the outstanding players in cricket history. In the past too, there were players like India’s Ravi Shastri and Daniel Vettori, former New Zealand captain.
Like Ashwin, they were spin bowlers with batting skills. But Ashwin has surpassed their bowling records. Fans of Ravindra Jadeja may argue that he is also as good as Ashwin.
True Jadeja has also scored about the same number of runs in batting, but where wickets are concerned, Ashwin is far ahead. The same can be said when comparing Ashwin and Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan. As a batsman Shakib has a better record than Ashwin but as a bowler, Ashwin is far superior.
A quick examination of the statistics reveals the extent to which Ashwin has dominated the show in Test cricket. In batting he has scored the maximum number of 50s that any Indian batter has scored at number 8 or lower. He was the fastest Indian bowler to reach 2000 Test runs and has now crossed 3000.
He has a wonderful batting average of 26.26 which is commendable for a batter in the lower order. In bowling, he was the fastest t.