IND vs ENG, 5th Test: R Ashwin becomes 14th Indian to play 100 Tests

Veteran India off-spinner R Ashwin became just the 14th player to reach the milestone of 100 Test matches for India during the fifth Test against England at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association stadium in Dharamsala on Thursday as well.

Ashwin, who made his debut in Tests against the West Indies in New Delhi way back in 2011, is also the first player from Tamil Nadu to reach the 100-Test feat. He is also the oldest Indian to reach the landmark as well as he reached the achievement at 37 years old.

The off-spinner became the second Indian player, after Anil Kumble, to claim 500 Test wickets, after scalping the wicket of Zak Crawley during the third Test at Rajkot as well. His 507 Test wickets have come at an average of 23.91 as well. He has also scored 3309 runs in the longer format, including five Test centuries, with an average of 26.47 as well.

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Time taken between the 1st and 100th Test by Indian players

Sunil Gavaskar – 13 years, 7 months, 11 days
Dilip Vengsarkar – 12 years 10 months
Kapil Dev – 11 years 30 days
Sachin Tendulkar – 12 years 9 months 21 days
Anil Kumble – 15 years 4 months 9 days
Rahul Dravid – 9 years 8 months 26 days
Sourav Ganguly – 11 years 6 months 6 days
VVS Laxman – 11 years 11 months 17 days
Virender Sehwag – 11 years 20 days
Harbhajan Singh – 14 years 10 months 28 days
Ishant Sharma – 13 years 8 months 30 days
Virat Kohli – 10 years 8 months 12 days
Cheteshwar Pujara – 12 years 4 months 8 days
R. Ashwin – 12 years 4 months 1 day

However, ahead of the landmark Test, Ashwin opened up about the on-field battles he has enjoyed through our the years.

“I have loved bowling to Steve Smith, Williamson and Joe Root. They are some of the finest batters going around the world now,” R Ashwin was quoted as saying in a PTI report. “When I played first-class, I had the privilege of bowling to some of the gun batters of spin – I have bowled to S Badrinath at the Tamil Nadu nets, and he was one of the finest batters of spin, then Mithun Manhas, Rajat Bhatia.”

“These are some of the greatest batters of spin who I would have not wanted to encounter in international cricket. They were my finishing school before I went on to play international cricket. I’d like to take my hat out to them because they gave me some valuable lessons,” R Ashwin concluded.