(Cricket news) Ravichandran Ashwin is one of the greatest spinners this world has ever seen. With 449 scalps he is the 9th highest wicket taker in the history of Test cricket. However in the 2nd Test match against Bangladesh it was his batting ability that won India the game. Ashwin’s batting has always gone under the radar but he has time and time again shown his prowess with the willow. In the T20 World Cup match against Pakistan where Virat Kohli pulled off the unthinkable, it was Ashwin who finished things off. The finger spinner has 5 Test centuries and in 3 of those innings he has taken a 5 wicket haul as well. 

The only issue is that Ravichandran Ashwin’s batting stats drop in SENA. Out of his 5 hundreds, 3 have been in India and 2 have been in the West Indies. However his batting has improved in the recent past, especially in white ball cricket. In the IPL with Rajasthan Royals, he has been batting as far up as one down. He has also added a few new shots which have given him more options to score runs.

In the past, Ravichandran Ashwin has had to compete with Ravindra Jadeja as a spin bowling all-rounder overseas where Jadeja has often had an edge because of his batting and that may still be the case in the future as Jadeja himself is improving his prowess with the willow.

Now at the age of 36 Ravichandran Ashwin is towards the back end of his career. He is still going strong in Tests but he is unlikely to play white ball cricket for India again. If India wins the series against Australia then they will play the World Test Championship final. Ashwin will definitely play all the games against Australia. However with the WTC final set to happen at Lords it will be interesting to see if he plays because India have gone with 4 fast bowlers and Jadeja in all of the 5 games against England.

Also read: India take another step towards WTC qualification with series win against Bangladesh