'He should be spoken in the same breath as Kapil Dev' - Dinesh Karthik lauds 'best all-rounder' R Ashwin

India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik feels that Ravichandran Ashwin has enough credit in his favour to be spoken in the same breath as the legendary former all-rounder Kapil Dev. After warming the bench throughout the England series earlier this year, Ashwin got back into action in the whites at home against New Zealand in Kanpur.

Ashwin returned with three wickets in each innings, while he also made his presence felt with the bat, scoring a crucial 38 in the first innings, followed by 32 in the second to deliver another all-round performance for the team. However, India could not win the game despite that as New Zealand secured a draw eventually, with a game left in the series.

Meanwhile, Karthik was all praises for Ashwin, terming him as “one of the best all-rounders India has produced”.

“Obviously, I don’t think I am in a place to judge both of them, but I must admit that they should be spoken of in the same breath when it comes to Indian cricket because both of them have been match-winners, have been exemplary, and have been definitely the two best all-rounders to have come out of this soil for a long, long time,” Karthik said during a discussion with Simon Doull on Cricbuzz.

“You have to put him there (among India’s best all-rounders) with the number of Man of the Series he has won, the accolades he has got obviously.”

“Getting 417 wickets in 80 Tests is an unbelievable record to have and the fact that he’s contributed and scored five hundreds, much more than a lot of the batters who play for a longer period of time in Test matches. There are people who have played 30-35 Tests, and still haven’t managed five hundreds,” Karthik added.

Notably, Ashwin overtook Harbhajan Singh’s tally of 413 Test wickets on the final day of the Kanpur Test. With 419 wickets under his belt, he is only behind Anil Kumble (619) and Kapil Dev (434) in the list of leading wicket-takers for the country in the longest format.

“These are milestones that are constantly kept on tab, it’s wonderful. Ever since Rahul bhai has taken over, he’s kept saying that how many ever wickets you take, how many ever runs you make in 10 years time, you won’t remember them. It’s the memories that matters so I want to have some special memories going forward in the next 3-4 years,” Ashwin told broadcasters after the conclusion of the first Test.