NEWS
Ravichandran Ashwin, fondly known as Ash, is an Indian International cricketer. He came into prominence as a mystery spinner and later showed his batting skills too. Now, he is a regular in Virat Kohli’s Test team and plays as a genuine all-rounder. His contribution is immense to take the Indian Test team to number 1 in the ICC rankings.
Let’s take a sneak-peak at the life and cricket journey in this comprehensive Ravichandran Ashwin’s biography.
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Ravichandran Ashwin |
| Age | 31 years |
| Sport Category | Cricket |
| Date of Birth | 17 September 1986 |
| Hometown | Chennai, Tamil Nadu |
| Height | 1.88 m |
| Spouse | Narayanan Prithi |
| Parent | Ravichandran and Chitra |
| ODI Debut | 6 November 2011 Vs West Indies |
| Test Debut | 5 June 2010 Vs Sri Lanka |
| T 20 Debut | 12 June 2010 Vs Zimbabwe |
| Bowling Style | Right arm off-spin |
| Teams Played for | Indian National Cricket Team, Kings XI Punjab, Chennai Super Kings |
| Captain | Kings XI Punjab |
Ashwin was born on 17 September 1986 in a Tamil Brahmin family in West Mambalam, Chennai. He did his schooling from Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan and St. Bede’s. Later, he studied engineering at SSN College of Engineering. His father Ravichandran played cricket at the club level as a fast bowler.
Ashwin started his career as an opening batsman, but at St Bede’s coaches, C.K.Vijay and Chandra changed his bowling style from medium pace to off-spin. Later he was dropped to the middle order and from there a mystery spinner was born.
R Ashwin’s domestic career is quite little to talk about as compared to his international and IPL success. Ashwin played as an all-rounder for Tamil Nadu and South Zone. He made his first-class debut for Tamil Nadu against Haryana in the 2006-07 Ranji season. In 27 first-class matches, Ashwin has picked up a huge total of 134 wickets. He played as an all-rounder for Tamil Nadu and the South Zone.
Ashwin was picked up by the Chennai franchise in the Indian Premier League. He debuted in 2009 and the MS Dhoni-led team went on to win the coveted trophy twice consecutively. He picked up 13 and 20 wickets respectively. He continued to be MS Dhoni’s leading man with the ball.
He made big names like Chris Gayle his bunny. Chennai Super Kings was banned in the 2016 and 2017 seasons, so Ashwin shifted to a new team, the Rising Pune Supergiants. In the 2018 auction, he was picked up by the Kings XI Punjab and he was entrusted with the responsibility of the captain.
With the success in the IPL, he was fast-tracked to the international scene. He made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka on 5 June 2010, scoring a 32 ball 38 and taking 2/50 in that match. His T20I debut came a week later, against Zimbabwe at Harare where he took 1/22 in four overs.
In a series against New Zealand in November- December 2010, India won the ODI series 5-0 and Ashwin was the leading wicket-taker with 11 scalps. Stand in captain Gautam Gambhir called him ‘the find’ of the series. Despite the recognition, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Pragyan Ojha and Ravindra Jadeja were first choices for the captain.
Ashwin was picked up for the ICC World Cup 2011 which was held in the subcontinent. He played only two matches in the World Cup and made his World Cup debut in March 2011 against the West Indies with bowling figures of 2/41 in 10 overs. In the quarterfinal against Australia at Ahmedabad and picked 2/52 and took up the crucial first wicket when the opening partnership was building on.
He was picked up for the Tests for the first time against West Indies in November 2011 at Delhi. Ashwin took 3/81 in the first innings and 6/47 in the second, helping India win the match. He was awarded the man of the match, becoming the third Indian player to win the award on Test debut. In the third test match in Mumbai, he scored his first international century – 103 off 118 balls. Ashwin went on to become the Man of the Series.
When Australia toured India in 2013, Ashwin surpassed the great Anil Kumble’s tally of 27 wickets for most wickets by an Indian bowler in a four-Test series. He took a total of 29 wickets at 20.10 and won the Man of the Series award as Australia lost 4-0.
In 2015, he became no. 1 Test bowlers in the ICC rankings. In December 2016, the International Cricket Council named Ashwin the ICC Cricketer of the Year and the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year for 2016.
| Competition | Test | ODI | T20 | FC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matches | 64 | 111 | 46 | 106 |
| Runs Scored | 2331 | 675 | 123 | 3726 |
| Batting average | 29.50 | 16.07 | 30.75 | 31.05 |
| 100s | 4 | – | – | 6 |
| 50s | 11 | 1 | – | 19 |
| Top Score | 124 | 65 | 31 | 124 |
| Wickets | 336 | 150 | 52 | 500 |
| Bowling Average | 25.44 | 32.91 | 22.94 | 26.84 |
| 5 wicket haul | 26 | – | – | 39 |
| 10 wicket haul | 7 | – | – | 10 |
| Best bowling | 7/59 | 4/25 | 4/8 | 7/59 |
| Catches | 23 | 30 | 8 | 42 |
Favourite Batsman: Sachin Tendulkar, Clive Lloyd, Vivian Richards
Favourite Bowler: Shane Warne
Favourite All-rounder: Kapil Dev
Favourite Food: Chocolates
Favourite Actor: Santhanam
Favourite Film : 3 Idiots, Vertical Limit
Favourite Musician: A R Rahman, Shoaib Bhushan
On 23 August 2016, Ashwin grabbed his sixth Man-of-the-Series Award, surpassing the tie by Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag, and in only his 13th Test series, and 8th series where he played every Test.
He along with Ravindra Jadeja became the first pair of spinners to be jointly ranked number 1 bowler in ICC Test Rankings history in 2017.
Ashwin won the Arjuna Award in 2014. He was awarded the BCCI’s Dilip Sardesai Award for India’s best cricketer in 2010–11 and 2015–16. He won the BCCI’s Polly Umrigar Award for International cricketer of the year in 2012–13.
He was honoured with ICC Test Player of the Year and ICC Cricketer of the Year in 2016. He also made it to the ICC Test team in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017.
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