The current series against England has been a special one for Ravichandran Ashwin. At Rajkot, the off-spinner picked up his 500th Test wicket, only the third finger spinner to do so.
And in the fifth Test in Dharamsala, Ashwin will play his 100th Test.
In a 13-year-journey in whites, Ashwin has had more highs than lows and has tops several charts.
Ashwin with 507 Test wickets so far is only the second Indian to have taken more than 500 wickets in Test cricket; the legendary Anil Kumble was the first.
Ashwin is the 14th cricketer to represent India in 100 Tests and only the fifth Indian bowler to achieve this feat. He will also become only the sixth spinner to achieve this remarkable feat.
Ashwin, aged 37 years, 172 days, is the oldest Indian to receive his 100th Test cap.
A quick look at the other Indians to have joined the 100 Test club before Ashwin:
Sachin Tendulkar: 200 Tests
Rahul Dravid: 164 Tests
V V S Laxman: 134 Tests
Anil Kumble: 132 Tests
Kapil Dev: 131 Tests
Sunil Gavaskar: 125 Tests
Dilip Vengsarkar: 116 Tests
Virat Kohli: 113 Tests
Sourav Ganguly: 113 Tests
Ishant Sharma: 105 Tests
Virender Sehwag: 104 Tests
Harbhajan Singh: 103 Tests
Cheteshwar Pujara: 103 Tests
Ashwin has featured in 58 victories of the 99 Tests he has played.
While Cheteshwar Pujara matches this, the only two players to exceed Ashwin's record are Sachin Tendulkar with 72 wins and Virat Kohli with 59 wins for India.
Quick Facts:
58 wins: Third most wins by an Indian in Tests.
9: Fourth most Man of the Match awards by an Indian in Test cricket.
11: Won the most Man of the Series awards by an Indian in Test cricket.
Ashwin has the most number of five-wicket and ten wicket hauls for India in Tests. He has 35 five-wicket hauls, the last one coming in India's win over England in Ranchi.
He has eight ten-wicket hauls to his name.
Ashwin is the only Indian to score a century and bag a five-wicket in a single Test.
He has achieved this feat on three occasions. The only other player to better Ashwin's feat is Ian Botham, who scored a ton and pocketed fifers in the same match on four occasions.
100 & fifer in a single Test for Ashwin
2011: 103 runs and 5/156 vs the West Indies in Mumbai
2016: 113 runs and 7/83 vs the West Indies in Antigua
2021: 106 runs and 5/43 vs England in Chennai
Ashwin made his white-ball debut for India before donning Test whites.
Asked about this on the eve of his 100th Test, Ashwin insisted he got the opportunity to play for India not just because of his white-ball skills.
'I am treading a very careful line of not making this a punch, but it is more a lack of understanding when you say that I came from the T20 format.
'I had a good 30-40 matches in first-class cricket before I made it to the Indian team.
'A lot of things need to go your way when you have to get a breakthrough and also continue playing for so many years.
'I am indebted for all those things, but I definitely wouldn't agree that I came through the white-ball formats. It was the other way round.'
Every player goes through ups and downs and there's that one turning point which either breaks or makes a great player. And for Ashwin, such a moment came during England's tour of India in 2012.
India had lost the series, which remains India’s last series loss at home.
On the cusp of his 100th Test, Ashwin opened up on the series that changed him. 'One of the turning points of my life was the England series when (Alastair) Cook came here and made all those runs. It has been talked about a lot, but to me that's what led to the next home series against Australia (changed a lot for him).'
'There was lot of noise about me being left out of the team, one of the selectors had a chat with me. At that time I was a bit nervy though I don't know where it came from as I had done well previously,' he recalled.
'When I went back and reflected on it after all those articles written about me, it dawned upon me that what was wrong with me. That is a wonderful lesson that has been kept with me all these years down the line.
'When I look back at it, it taught me what I had to correct. Some of those questions were raised by me largely.'
