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Ravichandran Ashwin is one of the greatest - stats prove it!

WION Web Team
New Delhi, IndiaWritten By: Subhayan ChakrabortyUpdated: Feb 15, 2021, 04:17 PM IST
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Photograph:(WION Web Team)

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Ravichandran Ashwin is one of the greatest spin bowlers of all-time but the veteran spinner once again displayed why he is also a sound batsman to have in the lower-order as he smashed a cracking century on a 'dustbowl' during the second Test between India and England at the MA Chidambaram in Chennai. 

Ravichandran Ashwin is one of the greatest spin bowlers of all-time but the veteran spinner once again displayed why he is also a sound batsman to have in the lower-order as he smashed a cracking century on a 'dustbowl' during the second Test between India and England at the MA Chidambaram in Chennai. 

The crowd at the Chepauk, Ashwin's local ground, celebrated in joy as the 34-year-old capped off a scintillating display with the bat to bring up his fifth Test century after edging a Moeen Ali delivery towards the third-man boundary. With his century on Monday, Ashwin surpassed the likes of Gary Sobers, Jacques Kallis, Shakib Al Hasan and Mushtaq Mohammad to achieve a fifer and a century.  

While Sobers, Kallis, Shakib, Mushtaq all had achieved the unique double of a fifer and a century in Test cricket twice, Ashwin with his century and heroic effort with the ball in the second Test against England in Chennai, has now completed the feat thrice. Only Ian Botham had achieved the landmark five times in his Test career. 

Century + Fifer in a Test match  

Ian Botham - 5 times 

Ravi Ashwin - 3 times* 

Gary Sobers - 2 times 

Jacques Kallis - 2 times 

Shakib Al Hasan - 2 times 

Mushtaq Mohammad - 2 times 

ALSO READ: Watch: Mohammed Siraj's celebration wins hearts as R Ashwin completes his 5th Test century

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The Chennai pitch had received plenty of criticism from some of the former England players, namely Michael Vaughan and Matt Prior, but Ashwin's batting left them red-faced as the Indian veteran showed great resilience and grit along with good batting technique to play out the likes of Moeen Ali and Jack Leach.  

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Ashwin first took a century and a fifer in Test cricket in 2011 against West Indies. In 2016, Ashwin repeated the same feat against West Indies before completing the milestone for the third time in his Test career, against England in Chennai. 

Interestingly, Ashwin also became the second Tamil Nadu player to score a Test century at Chepauk after Krisnamachari Srikkanth, who had smashed 123 runs against Pakistan in 1986/87.  

Ashwin had a bit of dip when it comes to his batting form and quality but the veteran played a heroic knock against Australia in the recently concluded tour as he along with Hanuma Vihari defied all the odds to help India draw the Sydney Test. 

Ashwin has scalped 386 Test wicket while scoring 2507 runs in the longest format of the game. The 34-year-old continues to cement his legacy as one of the greatest in the world of cricket.