Ravichandran Ashwin Records in Test matches – UPDATED

Ashwin records in Test Matches: Indian bowling all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin is undeniably one of the greatest assets for the Indian cricket team that too his performance and records in the Test format are unmatchable.

R Ashwin made his test debut for India on 2011 November 6, against West Indies at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi. Nearly 12 years later while playing against West Indies Ashwin dismissed Alzarri Joseph and becomes the third Indian to bag 700 wickets in international cricket after Anil Kumble (953) and Harbhajan (707).

Ashwin reached various highs during his Test career and scripted various records in the longest format of the game.

Ashwin records in Test Matches

Ashwin records in Test Matches: Though Ashwin played many crucial knocks for India in all formats, his commitment to the Test format is way greater than any of the other formats. Check out his records in Test matches below:

• Ravichandran Ashwin becomes the first Indian cricketer to score a century and take five wickets haul in the same Test match on three separate occasions.
• Ashwin becomes the fastest Indian bowler to reach 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350, 400, and 450 test wickets milestones.
• In his 37th Test appearance, Ashwin becomes the fastest Indian bowler and the second fastest in the world to reach 200 Test wickets after Australian spinner Clarrie Grimmett who made 200 wickets in 36 matches.
• In November 2015, in a match against South Africa, with his 5-wicket haul, Ashwin became the fastest Indian to bag 150 Test wickets.
• Ashwin achieved the world’s highest wicket-taker in 2016 with 72 scalps.
• On 23 August 2016, Ashwin grabbed his sixth Man-of-the-Series Award and surpassed the tie by Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag.

• In September 2016, he became the fastest Indian bowler and second overall to get 200 Test wickets by dismissing Kane Williamson in India’s 500th test match.
• On 10 October 2016, Ashwin took his 20th five-wicket haul and becomes the third fastest to reach the milestone.
• On 27 November 2016, he completed a double of 500 runs and 50 wickets in 2016.
  • Notably, he is the second all-rounder from India to achieve this in the same year after Kapil Dev.
• In India’s 2016–17 home season, Ashwin took 64 wickets in 13 Tests and becomes the highest wicket-taker for India in a single domestic season, which surpassed the records of Kapil Dev’s 63 wickets in 10 Tests during the 1979–80 season.
• On 12 February 2017, with the dismissal of Mushfiqur Rahim, Ashwin became the fastest to reach 250 test wickets.
• During the home test series against Australia, he became the fastest bowler to take 25 in test history in terms of matches(47) and in terms of innings(89).
• Ashwin along with Ravindra Jadeja became the first pair of spinners to be jointly ranked number 1 bowler in ICC Test Rankings history.
• In the 4th and final Test match against Australia at Dharamshala, in March 2017, Ashwin dismissed Steve Smith and took his wickets tally to 79.
  • This is the most number of wickets by a bowler in a home season surpassing Dale Steyn’s record of 78 in 2007–08.
• On 27 November 2017, during the second Test against Sri Lanka, Ashwin became the fastest bowler to reach 300 Test wickets in his 54th Test.
  • His 300th wicket was Sri Lankan tail-ender batsman Lahiru Gamage. India won the match by an innings margin along with the milestone.
  • The previous record holder was Australian fast bowling legend Dennis Lillee who had reached the milestone in the 56th Test match back in 1981.
• In December 2020, Ashwin became the bowler for dismissing most left-handers (200 left-hand batsman dismissals as of February 16, 2021) in Test cricket surpassing Muralitharan previous record (191).
• In February 2021, he became the fourth Indian to take 400 wickets in Test cricket.
  • Ashwin also became the second fastest bowler ever to achieve the landmark (77 Tests) after Muttiah Muralitharan (73 Tests).
• On 6 December 2021, Ashwin became only the second Indian bowler to take 300 Test wickets in home conditions, after Anil Kumble.
• Ashwin took the highest wickets (71) in the inaugural World Test Championship.
• In January 2022, Ashwin was named in ICC Men’s Test Team of the Year for the year 2021.
• In March 2022, he became the second leading wicket-taker (436) in tests for India, surpassing Kapil Dev (434).
• Ashwin Becomes Second Indian Bowler After Anil Kumble to Complete 450 Test Wickets.
• Ashwin Becomes Second Indian Bowler After Anil Kumble to Take 100 Wickets Against Australia.
• Ashwin is ranked number 1 among bowlers and 2 among all-rounders in Test cricket as of March 2023.
• Ravichandran Ashwin surpasses Harbhajan Singh to become the second-highest wicket-taker with 709 wickets in 271 matches for India in international cricket.

Lesser known facts about Ravichandran Ashwin

• His actual name is only ‘Ashwin’ and ‘Ravichandran’ is his father’s name.
• His father Ravichandran played cricket at club level as a fast bowler
• The subject that he used to hate the most was Maths.
• His wife, Prithi studied with him during high school.

• He started playing cricket as an opening batsman, but at the age of 14, he injured his pelvic area that caused a ligament tear in the hip bones, after which he dropped the idea of becoming a batsman.
• When Ashwin was a Class 9 student, he had to stay away from cricket for 1 year due to his neurological infection, he could not even go to school for 2 months.
• Ravichandran, who worked for Southern Railways, played club cricket for Egmore Excelsiors for over a decade.
• Initially, he started as a fast bowler, but his mother felt that it’s not suiting him, so she suggested him to do spin bowling, which proved to be the right call.
• His aspirations to become a genuine spinner skyrocketed when he went to the National Cricket Academy, captained his team, and took a 7-wicket haul.
• He was the one making the T20I cricket debut with Naman Ojha and Virat Kohli and ODI cricket debut with Pankaj Singh and Ojha, and his Test cricket debut with Indian fast bowler Umesh Yadav.
• He took at least one wicket in his debut match across all formats (T20I, ODI, Test).
• He was bestowed with the Arjuna Award by the Government of India Arjuna award — India’s highest sporting honour – in 2014.

• He received both the title of the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year and ICC Cricketer of the Year for 2016.
• On 25 March 2019, playing for Kings XI Punjab against Rajasthan Royals, Ashwin dismissed Jos Buttler in a run out popularly called ‘Mankading’. Though this is a legally permissible dismissal, it is considered against the spirit of the game, and for the same, Ashwin received heavy criticism from every corner.

• Cricket pundits often consider him the perfect blend of former Indian spin bowlers Bishan Singh Bedi, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, and Erapalli Prasanna.
• He is the third Indian player to win Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy after legendary Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar.
• His all-time favourite skipper is Sourav Ganguly.
• He is the only bowler in cricket history to dismiss Kumar Sangakkara in 4 successive games.
• He is an avid dog lover and whenever he is in Chennai, he loves to take his dogs for a walk in the night.
• He is a movie freak and loves watching every new release at Chennai’s Sathyam Cinema.
• His favorite superhero is ‘Batman.’

Controversies of Ravichandran Ashwin

• In September 2016, during a Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) match, he lost his temperament while batting for Dindigul Dragons against Chepauk Super Gillies.
  • When the batsman on the other end, Jagadeesan Narayan got dismissed, Ashwin and Narayan had a verbal spat and physical tussle with the bowler Kishore who pushed Narayan and passed provocating comments.

• In December 2016, he was trolled on social media as he didn’t mention the name of former captain MS Dhoni in his thank you speech after winning the ICC Best Test Cricketer Award.
• On 19 February 2018, Ashwin promoted a shoe brand on Twitter, to which former South African cricketer Herschelle Gibbs tweeted, “Hopefully you will be able to run faster now Ashwin.”
  • Ashwin counted his tweet by saying, “Surely not as fast as you did mate, unfortunately, I was not as blessed as you were. But I was blessed with a wonderfully ethical mind not to fix games that put food on my plate.” Soon after, Ashwin deleted the tweets respecting his “family of fans.”

Awards and Accolades

• Arjuna Award: 2014
• ICC – Test Team of the Year: 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017
• BCCI’s Dilip Sardesai Award for India’s best cricketer: 2010–11, 2015–16
• BCCI’s Polly Umrigar Award for international cricketer of the year: 2012–13
• ICC Test Player of the Year: 2016
• ICC Cricketer of the Year: 2016
• CEAT International Cricketer of the Year: 2016–17
• ICC Men’s Player of the Month: February 2021

Ravichandran Ashwin Test Stats