Indian off-spinner Ravichandaran Ashwin has etched his name in the records book once again, equalling the most number of Player of the Series in Test cricket’s history, with his stellar performances in Bangladesh series Ashwin now stands with Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.
They both now shares the 11 Player of the Series accolades, Ashwin performance in the Bangladesh series conquered many records in history of cricket. Ashwin’s took 11 wickets and scored 114 runs in both the innings two Test matches.
Ashwin performances throughout his test career gave many cherish moments for India, In first test match in Chennai his crucial knock of 113 runs gave team a fighting total and took 6 wickets in second innings for winning the Test match.
Ashwin awarded his 11th number of Player of the series, Back from his Test debut in 2011 he has only played in 42 series so far. On the other hand Sri Lankan legend Muralitharan featured in a total of 61 series for Sri Lanka during his 18-year-long career and won the Player of the Series award on 11 occasions.
In the list of most number of Player of the Series Ashwin alongside with muralitharan tops the list followed by Jacques kallis (South Africa)-9, Imran Khan (Pakistan)-8, Richard Hadlee(New Zealand)-8, Shane Warne (Australia)-8.
For India Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag are second in the list of India players with most Player of the Series awards in Tests five number of occasions they were rewarded. Virat Kohli has three Player of the Series awards to his name in Tests, whereas Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, and Rahul Dravid in their careers with four Player of the Series awards each.
Ashwin who considered as an All-rounder batting at number eight scored six centuries allowed him to match New Zealander Daniel Vettori who scored five centuries batting at lower order for their team. The 38 year old spinner currently ranks number two in ICC Test All-rounder rankings.
Ashwin’s heroic show in the second Test against Bangladesh has tossed him to the top of the wicket-takers list in the ongoing 2023-25 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.
He has taken 53 wickets from 10 matches at an average of 21.18 and a strike rate of 37.30, surpassing Josh Hazlewood, who is second in the list of most wicket takers with 51 wickets.
It would be an epic battle to see in the upcoming Border Gavaskar Trophy later this year in Australia which might be his last Border Gavaskar feat in Australia currently he is second most wicket taker after Nathan Lyon in Border Gavaskar Trophy.
This achievement further highlights Ashwin’s crucial role in India’s Test cricket success marks as one of the greatest spinners of his generation. Ashwin’s ability to adapt to different conditions and bowl effectively in all phases of the game and made him a nightmare for batsmen worldwide.
