Indian spin attack will be spearheaded by Ravichandran Ashwin, who is the number one Test bowler of the world, in the two-Test series against Bangladesh, scheduled to begin on Thursday, 19 September. The first test will be played at Ashwin’s home ground MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, while the second test will be played at Green Park Stadium in Kanpur from 27 September.
Ashwin led the wicket-taking charts bagging 26 wickets in India’s previous five match-Test series against England earlier this year, and the Indian teams’ hopes would be to crucially depend on his performance here. The veteran gets to within an historic six months of his 38th birthday on September 17 when new records may also be set in these matches.
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5 Key Records That Can Be Shattered By Ashwin
Highest Number Of Wickets In WTC
Ravichandran Ashwin has taken 174 wickets in just 35 matches for the Indian Team in the World Test Championship chart. He has played 100 Tests till now and he needs only 14 wickets out of the next two games in order to surpass Nathan Lyon and bag the first position as the highest wicket-taker in the history of the WTC.
Highest Wickets In WTC 2023-25
Ravichandran Ashwin is presently the world’s best-ranked Test bowler, having 42 wickets. He needs to claim 10 more in the series against Bangladesh to outdo Josh Hazlewood, who is currently second and has 51 wickets, to earn the top rank of the wicket-takers in the WTC cycle 2023-25.
Most 5-Wicket Hauls In WTC
Ashwin has so far claimed ten five-wicket hauls in 34 WTC matches. And if he takes at least one more of them in the next two Tests, he will go to the top spot. Presently, he is level with Nathan Lyon who also has ten five-wicket hauls.
Highest Wicket-taker In India Vs Bangladesh Tests
Ashwin has taken 23 wickets in six Tests against Bangladesh. He just needs 9 more wickets to surpass Zaheer Khan’s record of 31 wickets and establish a position as the top bowler for India-Bangladesh Test matches.
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Top Wicket-Taker In India
Ashwin has totalled 455 wickets in international matches played on Indian soil. If he picks up 22 more wickets in the Bangladesh series, he will go ahead and move past Anil Kumble’s feat of 476 wickets in international cricket played on Indian soil.
Ashwin currently stands on 516 wickets, thus he needs four more wickets for him to surpass West Indies legend Courtney Walsh’s count of 519 and 15 more to push Australia’s Nathan Lyon out of the stage, as Lyon has 530 wickets in the list of all-time wicket-takers in Test cricket. More importantly, should he take two more five-wicket hauls in this series against Bangladesh, Ashwin would not only break Shane Warne’s record of 37 fifers in Tests but also claim the No. 2 spot in the all-time list- currently headed by Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan.
Ravichandran Ashwin’s Retirement Plans
Ashwin played his first Test in 2011 against West Indies and eventually played 100 Test and 189 innings, taking 516 wickets at an economy of 2.81 runs per over. Ashwin has laid all speculations to rest as he recently stated on Vimal Kumar’s official YouTube channel that retirement is not on his mind. The 37-year-old clarified that he will take it one day at a time.
“There is nothing like that in my mind. I am only thinking about one day at a time because when you get older, you have to put in extra effort every single day. It’s not the same. I have put in a lot of effort in the last 3-4 years,” Ashwin said.
“I haven’t decided , but the day I feel that today I don’t want to improve, I will leave. That’s all,” he added.
The first Test between India and Bangladesh will be played on September 19, at MA. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai.
