Ravichandran Ashwin 100: 5 Unknown Facts about the legendary spinner

Ravichandran Ashwin played his 100th Test match at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association in Dharamsala. The premier Test all-rounder became the 77th overall and 14th Indian to have the honour of playing 100 Tests for the country. He is also one of the most deserving candidates to wear the badge in recent times. 

An engineer turned India cricketer, Ashwin has had his highs and lows in his long career. The illustrative career has seen the 2011 Cricket World Cup win, and the 2013 Champions Trophy victory and played a massive part in India attaining the No.1 Test nation tag over the years. He also played a significant role in India reaching back-to-back World Test Championship finals. 

Let's look at five unknown facts about the legendary spinner

5. An accidental spinner

Ravichandran Ashwin didn't start his cricket journey as an off-spinner. The opening batter who used to roll his arm with the new ball got severely injured in his pelvic area. The injury could have been career-threatening if he had continued seam bowling. 

The doctor associated with TNCA asked him to take bed rest for a few months to avoid surgery and he obeyed those words and benefited from the advice. His mother Chithra whom he credits his entire cricket career along with his father, asked him to try spin bowling as well. She knows his son in and out, she only suggested trying his luck as a spinner. Ashwin will go through less discomfort. 

In return, Ashwin took it on a positive note and started warming up his spin bowling skills. And it was at that time when a certain Harbhajan Singh took the world by storm. From there on, his journey with spin bowling started and is going strong. 

4. An MNC job offer and IPL contract in hand

Ashwin, much like stalwarts of the game who came from the southern part of India did not compromise with his studies. He went on to study engineering from SSN College of Engineering. How he completed his bachelor's degree is altogether a different story. 

Ashwin at that time was coming through the ranks of age group cricket in Chennai suburbs. It was a real struggle for him to balance his studies and cricket. Then came the Indian Premier League's inaugural edition. Indian Cements-owned franchise Chennai Super Kings picked up the local boy into their squad. The Ashwin family was over the moon with this good news. 

In the same year, Ashwin sat for the final year placement and he showed his skills to pick up the campus placement offer from one of the largest MNCs, Cognizant Technology Solutions. He may be the first cricketer to hold an IPL contract and a job offer from an MNC at the same time. Though he didn't join the company, he chose the CSK route and as they say, the rest is history. 

3. Shares international debuts across formats

For any cricketer to represent his or her country is a matter of honour and pride. World cricket takes a closer look at the debutant, especially on that day. The debutant gets centre stage and all media attention. But for Ashwin, it was never the case. 

Ashwin is probably the only international cricketer to have shared debuts across formats. In a span of two years, he got his Test cap as well after representing India in white-ball formats. In 2009, when seniors were given rest, Suresh Raina took charge of India during the Zimbabwe Triangular Series. Under his ODI captaincy, India had two more debutants, Naman Ojha, and Pankaj Singh alongside Ashwin. Just a week later, Ashwin was handed over the T20I cap along with Virat Kohli. 

In Tests, a format in which people thought he wasn't cut out for the longest format, he shared his first day at the office with debutant Umesh Yadav. On all three occasions, he had an impressive debut. He appeared as a true spin bowling all-rounder.

2. A stat unlikely to be broken

Many suggest Ashwin and Test Cricket are a better love story than Twilight. The Tamil Nadu boy has given his heart and soul each time he steps on the field wearing the white jersey. His hard work, perseverance and constantly reinventing himself stands out the most. With Ashwin, one thing that has remained constant is his ability to redefine his cricketing skills. 

Almost in each Test series, he has come up with something new or the other. Either it has been his bowling run-up or a new variation to outfox the batters or a new bowling angle which can trouble the batters. During the journey in the last decade or so, Ashwin has been the success pillar behind India's test dominance.

So far, he has played 41 Test series' and among which he won 10 Player of the Series awards. Only Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralidharan (11 in 61) is ahead of him. 

1. Ashwin and the carrom ball

After a successful career of almost 15 years, Ashwin's name is still associated with the carrom ball. When he burst onto the scene, batters were unable to pick up his carrom ball. They were terrified of how to counter the mystery spinner. 

But Ashwin does not take full credit for his mastery. Though he has mastered the art over the years and made it one of his weapons, he still remembers the person who taught him the variation. It was back in 2007 when a certain Karthik Sekhar almost made a mockery out of him in front of everyone. Ashwin, a big thing in tennis cricket then, looked clueless at the drift and turn Karthik was getting.

Ashwin, just like a true student of the game, got in touch with him. For the next 10-15 days, Ashwin spent countless hours with him to learn how to bowl the carrom ball. But he found out it was easier to bowl with a tennis ball than with a leather ball, as it is hard to squeeze. Even to that question, Ashwin had an answer to which he applied and was successful.