Ravichandran Ashwin’s record while starting with the new ball

Ravichandran Ashwin desired to rise from just being an ordinary member of the team and become a match-winner and so has he. He is now the most potent weapon in the Indian bowling unit. Has this ability to run through the opposition on not just the square turners but also on wickets that give the batsmen an equal opportunity.

The off-spinner has been in phenomenal form in the last couple of years ever since he returned from the daunting tour of Australia, where he was not the preferred spin bowler in the team. From the only Test India played in Bangladesh in June 2015 at Mirpur, Ashwin has picked 74 wickets with an average of 19.44 which includes nine 5-wicket hauls. In the last 11 Tests at home, he has grabbed nine 5-wicket hauls.

When playing in India the skipper now turns to him for wickets even when the ball is comparatively new. Gone as the days when spinners would only bowl with the old, soft ball. The new age tweakers love the hardness of the ball, as it gives them the added advantage of extracting bounce which can on some occasions prove decisive in giving them the edge over the batsmen.

Ashwin returned with figures of 6/132 in the second innings of the first Test against New Zealand at Kanpur. This was the 10th occasion when he picked up a five-wicket haul having started the spell with the new ball. With that he also became the first bowler under the stated brackets to register 10 five-wicket hauls in the annals of Test cricket. The previous record for the most number of five-wicket hauls by a spin bowler sharing the new ball was eight occasions which was shared by C Blythe of England and H Trumble of Australia.

Here are Ravi Ashwin’s ten 5-wicket hauls:

R Ashwin became the third spinner in the history of Test cricket to capture 75 or more wickets having shared the new ball. The other two are H Trumble of Australia – 93 and R Peel of England – 88.

R Ashwin of India and C Blythe of England share the record for most ten wicket hauls when a spin bowler has opened the bowling in an innings.  Both the bowlers have captured four 10-wicket match hauls.

With that Ravi Ashwin equaled the 106-year-old record held by C Blythe. Blythe had registered the 4th ten-wicket haul – as a spinner while sharing the new ball – against South Africa at Cape Town in March 1910. Whereas Ashwin’s 4th ten-wicket match haul – as a spin bowler while sharing the new ball – came against New Zealand in September 2016.