When Ravichandran Ashwin took the pitch for his team in the fifth and final Test match against England at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala, he became just the 14th Indian player to play in 100 Test matches.
Head coach Rahul Dravid escorted him to Dharamsala, where the entire team and Ashwin’s family joined him to commemorate the momentous occasion.
After Sachin Tendulkar (200), Rahul Dravid (163), VVS Laxman (134), Anil Kumble (132), Kapil Dev (131), Sunil Gavaskar (125), Dilip Vengsarkar (116), Sourav Ganguly (113), Virat Kohli (113), Ishant Sharma (105), Harbhajan Singh (103), and Cheteshwar Pujara (103), Ashwin became one of the select group of Indian players to play 100 Tests.
In 99 Tests, 116 ODIs, and 65 T20Is, Ashwin has claimed 507 wickets, 156 wickets, and 72 wickets, respectively. He averages 23.91 with the ball in Test matches and has 35 five-wicket and eight 10-wicket hauls to his credit.
Since making his Test debut in 2011, Ashwin has been a mainstay in the Indian Test team, particularly when playing at home. In addition to surpassing Kumble to become India’s top wicket-taker in home Tests, he also passed the 350-wicket barrier in home Tests during the current Test series.
In Rajkot, Ashwin passed the 500-wicket barrier in Test cricket, making history as only the second Indian after Kumble to do so. After greats like Muthiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Kumble, Glenn McGrath, Courtney Walsh, and Nathan Lyon, he became just the ninth bowler in Test cricket history to pick 500 wickets.
In Test cricket, Ashwin also made history by becoming the first Indian player to score more than 1000 runs and claim 100 wickets against England. He joined Gary Sobers, Monty Noble, and George Giffen as the fourth player to accomplish this feat.
In the Ranchi Test, the off-spinner took an incredible five wicket haul to lead India to victory and win the series 3-1. With his 35th five-wicket haul of the season, the off-spinner tied Kumble for the most five-fors for India in Test matches.
Jonny Bairstow of England will play in his 100th Test match for his country alongside Ashwin, making history as the 17th Englishman to do so. Before the Dharamsala Test, Bairstow amassed 5,974 runs at a 36.42 average, with 26 fifty-scores and 132 hundreds.