Ravichandran Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin (Tamil: [ɾaʋitɕand̪iɾan aɕʋin]; ) (born 17 September 1986) is an Indian cricketer. He is a right-arm off spin bowler and a lower order batter. Widely regarded as one of the most prolific spinners of all time, he represented the Indian cricket team and was part of the Indian team that won the 2011 Cricket World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy. He represented Tamil Nadu and Sou...

Ravichandran Ashwin (Tamil: [ɾaʋitɕand̪iɾan aɕʋin]; ) (born 17 September 1986) is an Indian cricketer. He is a right-arm off spin bowler and a lower order batter. Widely regarded as one of the most prolific spinners of all time, he represented the Indian cricket team and was part of the Indian team that won the 2011 Cricket World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy. He represented Tamil Nadu and South Zone in domestic cricket. Ashwin has taken more than 500 wickets in Tests and was the fastest bowler to reach 300 test wickets in terms of number of innings. He has won eleven Man of the Series awards in Tests, which is the most for any cricketer, along with Muttiah Muralitharan. As an all-rounder in Test cricket, he bats down the order, has scored six Test centuries and is one of the only three players to have scored 3000 runs and taken 500 wickets in Tests. He had been the highest-ranked bowler in the ICC men's player rankings multiple times, and holds the record for the second highest rating points by an Indian bowler ever in Test cricket. Ashwin started as an opening batsman but dropped down the order due to limited success and turned into an off-break bowler. He made his first-class debut for Tamil Nadu in December 2006 and captained the team the following season. He played for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the 2010 Indian Premier League, where his economical bowling led to his maiden international call-up in the limited-overs formats in June 2010. He was the leading wicket-taker and player of the tournament of the 2010 Champions League Twenty20, which was won by CSK. He also won the 2014 Champions League Twenty20 and two IPL titles (2010, 2011) with CSK. In 2011, Ashwin made his Test debut against West Indies and became the seventh Indian bowler to take a five-wicket haul on debut. He had greater success with the turning tracks in the Indian subcontinent, including taking 29 wickets in a series against Australia, the most by any Indian bowler in a four-match Test series. In the 2015–16 season, he took 48 wickets and scored 336 runs in eight Test matches, along with 27 wickets in 19 T20Is, enabling him to win the ICC Cricketer of the Year and ICC Men's Test Cricketer of the Year awards for 2016. He has been named five times to the ICC Men's Test Team of the Year and was named in the ICC Men's Test Team of the Decade 2011–20. In 2015, he was awarded the Arjuna award by the Government of India. On 18 December 2024, Ashwin announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket. He was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, by the Government of India in January 2025. Early and personal life Ashwin was born on 17 September 1986 in Madras (now Chennai), Tamil Nadu, to Ravichandran and Chitra. His father, Ravichandran, played cricket at club level as a fast bowler. Ashwin did his initial schooling at Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan. Later, he switched to St. Bede's School for higher secondary. He graduated with a BTech in Information Technology from SSN College of Engineering, Chennai. Ashwin started playing cricket at the age of nine for YMCA and was coached by Chandrasekar Rao during the early part of his career. Later, when he switched to St. Bede's, which had a cricket academy where he was coached by C K Vijaya Kumar. Initially, he took up medium pace bowling before he switched to off spin on the advice of his coach. He was later coached by former spinner Sunil Subramaniam and mentored by former cricketer W V Raman. He had represented the Indian under-17 team as an opening batter. Ashwin resides in West Mambalam, Chennai. He married his childhood friend, Prithi Narayanan, on 13 November 2011. They have two daughters. International career 2010–11: Debut and early years On the back of his impressive performance in the 2010 Indian Premier League, Ashwin was selected for the Indian squad that toured Zimbabwe for a tri-series in May 2010. He made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka on 5 June 2010, scoring a 32–ball 38 and taking 2/50 in that match, which India lost. His T20I debut came a week later, against Zimbabwe at Harare where he took 1/22 in four overs in an Indian win. Ashwin was part of the squad for the 2010 Asia Cup, which India won. He was also part of the tri-series against New Zealand and Sri Lanka, but did not get a game, with Pragyan Ojha and Ravindra Jadeja being preferred. In October 2010, Ashwin was selected to play in the three-match home ODI series against Australia, in which he took 1/34 in nine overs in an Indian victory in the only match he played. Ashwin played in all five matches of the home series against New Zealand in November–December 2010 in which India completed a 5–0 whitewash with Ashwin ending up as the leading wicket-taker with 11 wickets at an average of 21.90. At the conclusion of the series, then Indian captain Gautam Gambhir called him "the find" of the series and hailed his bowling during the powerplay overs. Despite being in the squad, Ashwin did not make it to the playing eleven in any of the five ODIs on the South African tour in 2010, with Harbhajan Singh preferred. Ashwin was part of the 15-member 2011 Cricket World Cup squad, with Harbhajan and Piyush Chawla being the other two specialist spinners in the squad. Ashwin played only two matches in World cup, which India won, defeating Sri Lanka in the finals. Ashwin played the fourth and fifth matches of India's tour of West Indies in June–July 2011, picking up just one wicket. Ashwin was retained in the limited-overs squad for the England tour and emerged as India's best bowler of the series, taking six wickets at an average of 25.16. When England toured India in October 2011, Ashwin was the second-highest wicket-taker of the series, with ten wickets in a 5–0 victory. 2011–12: Test debut and rise In November 2011, West Indies toured India for three Tests and five ODIs, with Ashwin and Ojha being the only two specialist spinners in the squad. Ashwin made his Test debut in the first match at Delhi, earning his cap from Sachin Tendulkar. He took 3/81 in the first innings and picked a fifer with 6/47 in the second, helping India win the match and was awarded the man of the match, becoming the third Indian player to win the award on Test debut. He picked four wickets in the second Test at Kolkata, where India registered an innings victory. In the third Test at Mumbai, he took 5/156 and scored his maiden international century in India's first innings, thus becoming only the third Indian to score a century and take a five-wicket haul in the same Test and the first since 1962. The match ended in a draw with the scores level, and was awarded the man of the match as well as the man of the series for his all-round performance. Ashwin also featured in four matches of the subsequent ODI series and took four wickets at an average of 49.00. Ashwin was part of the squad that toured Australia in 2011-12. He played in three Tests on the tour, taking just nine wickets at an average of more than 62. He also featured in the subsequent triangular CB Series against Australia and Sri Lanka and took seven wickets in as many matches at 43.42. In March 2012, he took five wickets in three matches of the 2012 Asia Cup in Bangladesh. He had a quiet tour of Sri Lanka in July–August 2012, taking five wickets at 39.40 in the five-match ODI series and 1/22 in the one-off T20I. 2012–15: Middle years and consolidation Ashwin returned to form during the two-match home Test series against New Zealand. In the first Test at Hyderabad, he claimed 6/31 and 6/54, helping India seal an innings victory and was named the man of the match with his match figures of 12/85, bettering S. Venkataraghavan's 12/152 for the best figures by an Indian bowler against New Zealand in Tests. In the second match at Bangalore, his efforts of 5/69 in the second innings helped India win the match and the series 2–0. He was awarded man of the series for his tally of 18 wickets at an average of 13.11. Ashwin played four matches in the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka and took five wickets at an economy rate of 6 and an average of 19. During the first Test of England's tour of India in late 2012, Ashwin became the fastest Indian to record 50 wickets in Test cricket as he overhauled the milestone in his ninth game. India eventually lost the series 2–1 in which Ashwin managed to take only 14 wickets in the four Tests at an average of 52.64. However, he scored 243 runs, averaging 60.75, including two fifties, and finished as India's second best batsman of the series. In the three-match ODI series against Pakistan and the five-match ODI series against England, he took three wickets at 43.33 and seven wickets at 35.71, respectively. In February 2013, Ashwin worked with Sunil Subramaniam to make changes to his bowling ahead of the four-match Test series against Australia, including shortening of his bowling stride. Ashwin had a successful series in the Australia's four-Test tour of India in February–March 2013. In the first Test at Chennai, his home ground, he took 7/103 and 5/95, leading India to a comfortable eight-wicket victory. He had a haul of 5/63 in the second innings of the second Test at Hyderabad, where India registered an innings win and took four wickets in the third Test at Mohali, where India sealed the series with a six-wicket victory. In the last match at Delhi, he took 5/57 and 2/55 in another Indian win which completed a 4–0 whitewash of Australia. During the match, Ashwin surpassed Anil Kumble's record of 27 wickets for the most wickets by an Indian bowler in a four-Test series. Ashwin finished the series as the leading wicket-taker with a tally of 29 wickets at 20.10 and won the Man of the Series award. It was the first time India won four or more Tests in a series and the first time Australia was whitewashed since 1969–70. Ashwin was part of the Indian team that won the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy in England. His match figures of 2/15 in four overs in the 20-overs-a-side final helped India restrict England to 124/8 and win the match by five runs. He had a total of eight wickets from five matches at an average of 22.62, conceding 4.41 runs per over, and ended as the joint-fifth highest wicket-taker of the tournament and was named in the 'Team of the Tournament'. With nine wickets in six matches, Ashwin finished as the leading wicket-taker of the home ODI series against Australia in October–November 2013, which India won 3–2. On India's tour of South Africa, Ashwin had a difficult time with the ball, picking up only one wicket across three ODIs and went wicketless in his 42 overs in the first Test at Johannesburg, following which, he was dropped for the second Test. In early 2014, Ashwin's overseas struggles continued during the New Zealand tour, where he managed to bag a solitary wicket in the five-match ODI series, which India lost 4–0. However, in the third ODI, coming in to bat with India at 146/5 in pursuit of 315, he scored his maiden ODI fifty of 65 runs from 46 balls. He shared a 38-run partnership with Dhoni and an 85-run seventh wicket stands with Jadeja, as the match eventually ended in a tie. In the two-match Test series that followed, Jadeja was preferred over Ashwin as the lone spinner in the playing eleven. Ashwin was back among the wickets when India went to Bangladesh for the 2014 Asia Cup and the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. He took nine wickets in four matches of the Asia Cup and finished as the joint-third highest wicket-taker of the tournament. He played a vital role in India's unbeaten run to the World Twenty20 final. His tally of 11 wickets in six matches at an average of 11.27 and an economy rate of 5.35 put him joint third on the list of most wickets in the tournament. He was named in the "Team of the Tournament" for the 2014 T20 World Cup by the ICC and ESPNcricinfo. Ashwin was part of the Indian team that toured England in 2014. He played only two matches in the five Test series, sc