Ravi Ashwin – Magical journey towards 500 Test Wickets

Pink Test, Day Night, Lights On, New state of art stadium, Festive mood, Ravi Ashwin bowling with the pink ball. Picture that, he gets Jofra Archer’s leg before wicket and creates a magical moment in his outstanding Test career. Ravi Ashwin, the tall off-spinner from the streets of Chennai, joined the elite 400 test wicket club, during the 3^rd Test against England. Ashwin achieved this magnificent feat in just his Test number 77 at the majestic Narendra Modi stadium.

Rewind three months back to the Test series in Australia, Ashwin was not a sure shot in India Test playing XI with Ravi Jadeja being the established spinner in the side. After one in a generation Test series between India and Australia, which started with, batting maelstrom in Adelaide, the fightback in Melbourne miracle, the great Sydney escape, followed by the historic win in the Gabba fortress, Ashwin continued his good work from Australia and spun a web against English batsmen and was instrumental in India winning both the Test series. Along this journey, Ashwin crossed 400 wickets and also won the Man of Series award in the just-concluded Test series against England.

Ashwin’s Test debut was in the year 2011 and his career spanned from strength to strength until 2018, when he hit a bump and lost his place in playing XI. He has successfully revived his career again, with his mammoth achievements in the recently concluded Test series against Australia and England.  Overall, he averages about 5 wickets a Test across his entire career.

India has a rich history and heritage of producing spinners of different kinds –  off, leg, and left-arm spinners, going all the way back from Bishan Singh Bedi to most recently retired legend Harbhajan Singh.  The 34-year-old is quite ahead in comparison with Harbhajan Singh at this stage of his career and we can argue that Harbhajan and Ashwin played in different conditions and oppositions. So the next obvious choice would be Nathan Lyon, from Australia. Ashwin numbers (average, economy, wickets per game) are much superior compared to Lyon, who is considered as “GOAT” in the Australian cricketing fraternity.

Comparing Ravi Ashwin and other great spinners of the time

Now, let us try to answer the big question, as to when would the Chennai spinner cross 500 wickets.  So, the factors to consider would be the following:

• Test Schedule: India plays 20 Tests in the next 18 months, with 11 tests being played away from home.
• Fitness: Ashwin is 34 years old and should be able to play for the next 3-4 years in prime condition.
• Projection of Wickets: Considering home + away factor, Ashwin’s past record against opponents.

With a conservative approach shown in the table above, Ashwin would be able to capture about 93 wickets, which would cross his tally past 500 wickets. This is projected to happen in the Test series against Bangladesh in November 2022. Along this journey, Ashwin would pass Harbhajan Singh and India’s greatest all-rounder Kapil Dev and would only have Anil Kumble to chase.

Overall, Ashwin is indeed a modern-day Test legend and has marveled cricketing fans all around the world with bowling, batting, and now his popular YouTube channel.

Written by – Chandru Boopalam