Veteran India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has replaced his fellow teammate and vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah in the latest update of ICC Men’s Test bowling rankings. Ashwin dethroned Bumrah from the top spot after his sensational performance in the 5-match Test series against England where the hosts registered a dominant 4-1 victory with their innings and 62-run win at Dharamshala.
Ravichandran Ashwin had more than just a successful series against England as the veteran eclipsed a number of records. He first completed 500 Test wickets when India registered their biggest-ever red-ball victory by 434 runs at the Niranjan Shah stadium in Rajkot.
Ravichandran Ashwin’s successful Test series against England
Then in the 5th Test, Ravichandran Ashwin became the 14th Indian to play 100 Test matches when the 5th Test took place at the HPCA stadium. He kept his best performance saved for the last Test as he scalped 9 wickets in total, a 4-wicket haul in the 1st innings, and then a 5-wicket haul in the following.
But all of that had a build-up too. Ravichandran Ashwin’s 3/68 and 3/126 in the 1st Test at Hyderabad where India endured a 28-run defeat with the loss serving as a good platform for the hosts to fight back from. Rohit Sharma’s side initiated their retaliation from the 2nd Test onwards at Vishakhapatnam where the hosts had a couple of brilliant individual performers.
It started with Yashasvi Jaiswal’s maiden double hundred in the 1st innings, then Jasprit Bumrah’s 6-wicket haul immediately after India’s inning before Shubman Gill ended his run-drought with an emphatic century. Bumrah followed up his 6 wickets with another 3 while Ravichandran Ashwin after remaining quite in the 1st innings, registered 3 in the following.
In the 3rd Test, Ashwin was just a wicket away from entering the 500-club which he did by getting the wicket of English opener Zak Crawley on day 2. However, an unexpected turn of events saw Ashwin pull out from the match temporarily due to a medical emergency in his family but he returned just in time for India’s 2nd innings with the ball. He closed off the Rajkot Test in style, making Tom Hartley his 501st scalp of Test cricket.
Then at Ranchi, Ashwin had another quiet 1st innings by claiming only 1 wicket but his spell in the 2nd innings proved to be a game changer. After Rohit Sharma handed him the new ball, Ravichandran Ashwin returned with figures of 5/51 from 13 overs, restricting England to a target of only 192 which India completed even after losing 5 wickets.
The 5th and series-concluding Test in Dharamshala, Ravichandran Ashwin’s 100th, saw the veteran first claim 4 and then 5 to return with match figures of 9/128 and conclude the series as the highest wicket-taker with 26 wickets. And now just a week after India won the Anthony De Mello 2024 trophy against England, Ashwin has climbed to the top of the ICC Test bowling rankings.
When will Ravichandran Ashwin come back to cricket action?
After a successful home winter series, Ravichandran Ashwin has his eyes set on having an enthralling spring season as he will join the Rajasthan Royals for IPL 2024 in the coming days. He will most probably come back in action when RR play their opening IPL match against Lucknow Super Giants at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on March 24.
