History beckons R. Ashwin in Dharamsala, in line to surpass Kumble to achieve historic feat

Star Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin will be taking the field for the 100th time in Test cricket as India lock horns with England in the fifth and final Test of the series beginning from Thursday, March 7, at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala. Notably, Ashwin will become the 14th Indian player to play over 100 Tests and the fourth Indian bowler to do so, the other three being Kapil Dev (131), Anil Kumble (132), and Harbhajan Singh (103).

Ahead of the fifth Test, Ashwin is on the verge of making history by surpassing Anil Kumble and securing the record for the most five-wicket hauls by an Indian in Test cricket. As of now, Ashwin and Kumble share the record for 35 five-wicket hauls in Test cricket, but Ashwin has a favorable opportunity to surpass Kumble in the forthcoming game.

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Upon achieving the feat, Ashwin will also join Sir Richard Hadlee on the third spot of the most fifers in Test history. He recently picked his 35^th fifer during the fourth Test against England in Ranchi as his 5/51 helped India bundle out the opposition for 145 in the second innings and eventually win the game by five wickets.

Earlier, Ashwin left Kumble behind in the list for most wickets in India as he surpassed his 350-wicket mark tally to sit at the top spot with 354 wickets to his name from 59 games. Notably, Ashwin recently became the ninth bowler to pick 500 wickets in Tests during the third game of the series in Rajkot. He became the second-fastest bowler to achieve the landmark in 98 games.

R Ashwin is the joint second-highest wicket-taker of the series

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In the ongoing series, the Chennai-born cricketer is the joint second-highest wicket-taker of the series with 17 scalps from four matches at an average of 30.41 and an economy of 3.95. Heading into the fifth Test, Ashwin will look for another match-winning performance from his side to help India seal the series with a thumping margin of  4-1 and consolidate their position at the top of the World Test Championship points table.