Ravichandran Ashwin took the wicket of Tom Latham in the second session for 52 as he went past Harbhajan Singh’s tally of wickets to become India’s most successful offspinner.
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Ravichandran Ashwin created history on Monday on the final day of the Kanpur Test against New Zealand. The off-spinner, who has been India’s premier spinner ever since the departure of Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble a decade ago, took the wicket of Tom Latham for 52. Ashwin went wide of the crease and darted a flatter delivery slightly wide of the off stump. Latham tried to go for the cut but ended up dragging the ball back onto the stumps. India finally found the breakthrough that they had wanted and they pished ahead for a win on the final day.
With the wicket of Latham, Ashwin created history. It was his 418th Test wicket, taking him past Harbhajan Singh’s tally of 417. Ashwin is now India’s most successful off-spinner in history. While Harbhajan took 103 Tests to take the tally of wickets, Ashwin has achieved the feat in just 80 Tests.
Ashwin became the joint-fastest to 350 wickets when he achieved it in the 66th Test that he played in. That feat was accomplished in Vizag about two years ago. The Chennai off-spinner took his 400th wicket in his 77th Test, which is the second-fastest in history behind Muttiah Muralitharan. Among all the spinners in the world, Ashwin now only has Muralitharan, Shane Warne, Anil Kumble and Rangana Herath as the leading wicket-taker in Tests.
Ashwin has a phenomenal record in home Tests. In 48 Tests so far, he has taken 291 wickets at a staggering average of 21.89. Overall, his average of 24 in Tests and nearly 28 with the bat put him in an elite list of all-rounders. Although his record away from the sub-continent is average at best, he has often been the key in setting up wins.
However, what makes Ashwin special is his record against key players. He has dismissed Steve Smith, Kane Williamson, and Joe Root many times. His record against left-handers is simply phenomenal, with at least 14 out of the top 15 that he has dismissed in Tests all being left-handers. In the fourth innings of a Test, Ashwin averages 18 which is truly phenomenal.
During the Kanpur Test, Ashwin was involved in a bizarre controversy in which the umpires had a chat with him. The issue seemed to be that he was preventing the non-striker to take a run during his delivery stride. But, in the recent past, Ashwin was in the center of some muddled team selection issues. Ashwin was not picked for the Lord’s Test as there was a certain template that the team was following. Later, it was revealed the cloudy conditions forced a last-minute change at Lord’s.
In the Oval Test, on a dry pitch where Ashwin had success playing for Surrey, he was once again left out. This saw plenty of criticism of Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri. Inexplicably, he was left out for the first two games of the ICC World T20 2021 against Pakistan and New Zealand. In those matches, India’s lack of variety was exposed and they lost the two matches to crash out of the tournament.
Ashwin’s brilliance will be key if India is to continue their home domination. They have lost just one series in the last 16 years.
