Ravichandran Ashwin with his grandfather and parents at their residence in Chennai. File.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Lying in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a Chennai hospital, Chitra Ravichandran was slipping in and out of consciousness but she had just one query for her son Ravichandran Ashwin when she saw him by her bedside — “Why did you come?” Hours after becoming only the second Indian bowler after Anil Kumble to take 500 Test wickets, Ashwin rushed back to his home in Chennai during the third game against England in Rajkot after coming to know that his mother had been hospitalised following a blackout.

“When I landed and got to the hospital, my mom was slipping in and out of consciousness, and the first thing she asked me was, ‘Why did you come?’ The next time she was conscious, she said, “I think you should go back because the Test match is happening,” Ashwin told ‘ESPNCricinfo‘ on the eve of his 100th Test.

INFOGRAPHICS | Where Ashwin stands among the bowling pantheon

The off-spinner emotionally recalled how his parents Ravichandran and Chitra worked their “backsides off” to help him realise their collective cricketing dream.

“The entire family is built on cricket and to facilitate my career. It hasn’t been easy. It has been very hard on them. It’s been a big roller-coaster for them — going through the emotions and ups and downs that I myself do,” the 37-year-old said.

Ashwin, at times, did feel that the sport meant more to his family than him.

“I am in the second half of my thirties and my dad still watches a game like he would watch my first international game. It means a lot to them. Compared to what it means to them, it definitely means less to me.”

“They have eliminated anything that comes in the way of my cricket. That has been the sole purpose of their lives ever since I can remember,” he said.

Ashwin’s father is an avid cricket-watcher and the former club cricketer is present even at the most nondescript grounds to watch TNCA first division league.

“It was as if I was living the dream my dad wanted to achieve. Imagine somebody wanted to become a cricketer [but doesn’t]. He gets married, he has a son.”

“And he wants to live the dream through his son, and he does everything from teaching me, to taking notes from my classmates, to taking me to private tuitions to make sure I play the maximum possible amount of cricket while still finishing my education.”

“And this lady [mother] coming from some other hamlet says, ‘I support you because you couldn’t become a cricketer. Let’s support our son to become a cricketer. Let’s work our backsides off’. And the father-in-law supports it, and then the sister-in-law supports it.”

Ravichandran Ashwin, with captain Rohit Sharma. File.
| Photo Credit: AP

No praise is enough for Ravichandran Ashwin, said captain Rohit Sharma on March 6, lauding the off-spinner ahead of his 100th Test as a “rare” talent critical for the team’s success.

The fifth and final Test against England, starting here on Thursday, is inconsequential to the final outcome of the series as India have already taken an unbeaten 3-1 lead. But it has become significant due to the 100-Test milestone set to be achieved by Ashwin and England batter Jonny Bairstow.

INFOGRAPHICS | Where Ashwin stands among the bowling pantheon

“[It’s a] big achievement for any player to play 100 Tests. It is a big milestone. He has been a match winner for us. What he has done for us, no praise is enough,” Rohit said on the eve of the match.

“His performances over the last five-seven years, every series he has contributed. It is rare to have players like him,” he added.

“I want to congratulate him for his 100 test landmark, of course to get near it as the toss hasn’t happened. It feels good to reap rewards of your hard work,” the skipper said.

They have been national teammates for close to a decade and half but it was more than 20 years back when a then precocious Mumbai off-spinner Rohit was pitted against talented opener Ashwin in Vijay Merchant (U-16) and Cooch Behar Trophy (U-19).

“As a captain, I have seen him since U-19, U-17 days. He batted at that time, was an opener and then he started bowling. And I used to bowl [off-spin] and then became a batsman, so it became up and down for us but it has been good for Indian cricket.” Ashwin, the “cricket scientist”, has evolved a lot in these 14 years, feels Rohit.

“As a cricketer, he [Ashwin] has evolved in his game and he has a lot of intelligence and if you get a player like this in the team then you don’t have to think too much.

“If you give the ball to him, then he drives the game. How to bowl, what field to set and what to do, I am talking about the planning during the game.” The Indian skipper also spoke about how process-driven Ashwin is.

“What you see on the field is the result of a lot of off-field stuff and the work done on one’s bowling. I have often seen him bowling with just one stump before a match — one hour 45 minutes before a game. Bowling at one stump a day before a Test. This is cricket’s basics.

“I have seen him bowl regularly at one stump and this has been a process for him. And the biggest thing is that he is a big team player and we saw that in Rajkot Test, when it was a difficult situation for him, but he called and said ‘I want to come back and do something for the team’.

“You see this rarely, and when you have players like this, then your head is held high.”

Ashwin, who recently became only the second Indian after Anil Kumble to cross 500 wickets in the game’s longest format, made his Test debut in 2011 and has enjoyed more highs than lows during a 13-year journey.

India’s spin bowling lynchpin is at a stage of his career where he is creating a record in every Test match he is playing. Earlier this month, R Ashwin captured his 500th wicket in the third Test match of the India-England series becoming the second Indian and just the ninth bowler to achieve the feat.

In the first week of March 2024, Ashwin will be playing in his 100th Test match. He will be only the 14th cricketer, among 313 Indian Test players ever, to play in 100 Tests.

Ashwin’s record in Tests is phenomenal. His 507 wickets in 99 matches were achieved at an average of 23.91 and a fabulous strike rate (balls bowled to pick up a wicket) of 51.3. Here’s a breakdown of the 507 wickets by opposing teams

The bulk of the 507 wickets – 354 of them to be precise – were achieved in India, the highest for any Indian bowler. The next best are Anil Kumble (350), Harbhajan Singh (265) and Kapil Dev (219). Here’s a look at the average and strike rate for Ashwin venue-wise. While he has a great record in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and West Indies, his average (39.4) and strike rate (83.7) in the pace-friendly SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) countries pale in comparison to other venues.

Yet another telling statistic for Ashwin’s wickets is that nearly half of them are of left handed batsmen (LHB). Ashwin has been lethal against southpaws, picking 252 (the highest for any bowler) of them in his total tally of 507. The percentage of LHB that Ashwin has picked up – 49.7% is also the highest. See the chart below for bowlers with more than 400 wickets to find out their LHB% and total number of wickets against LHBs.

It is no wonder that current England captain Ben Stokes (12 dismissals), Australia’s David Warner (11), England’s Alastair Cook (9) and New Zealand’s Tom Latham (8) are the batters whose wickets Ashwin has picked the most. All of them are left-handed. More importantly, among the 15 batters who got out to Ashwin’s bowling the most, only three – England’s Jimmy Anderson, Australia’s Nathan Lyon and South Africa’s Morne Morkel bat in the lower order, an indication of the spin maestro’s prowess.

Where do Ashwin’s records stand among those of the pantheon of world’s best bowlers? Only 197 bowlers have picked 100 wickets for more in Test cricket overall. Strike rates are very useful when comparing bowlers. The lower the strike rate, more lethal the bowler. We plot a graph for those bowlers’ wickets against their strike rate (reversed). The dashed line indicates the medians for both axis.

You can select the type of bowler you want from the dropdown below. Note how the median strike rate and wickets change for pace bowlers and spinners. Hover over or tap the dots in the scatterplot to check the strike rates and wickets for all bowlers who picked up 100 or more wickets in Test cricket. Spinners are marked in blue (except Ashwin, whose image is in the plot) and pacers are marked in red. Data for the plot is until the Test between India and England that ended on February 26, 2024