Ravi Ashwin picks maiden County Championship wicket

Ravi Ashwin has been ‘rested’ for the limited over series against Sri Lanka but the ace off-spinner is utilizing the break by playing cricket in England. The 30-year old has almost 500 international wickets to his name but somehow never managed to play in the County Championship till he was picked to play for Worcestershire for the last leg of the county season.

Handy runs, maiden wicket for tall off-spinner

Ashwin batted crisply in his debut innings for Worcestershire and made a solid 36 batting at No. 6. The Tamil Nadu cricketer struck with the ball in his tenth over when he induced Gloucestershire wicket-keeper batsman Gareth Roderick to hand a simple return catch back to Ashwin. This was his maiden County Championship wicket and hopefully the first of many. Ashwin’s decision to play in England is a logical one as he did not enjoy a good time when India last toured in the country.

India international @ashwinravi99 takes his maiden County Championship wicket!

First of many? pic.twitter.com/7XFCaZyjAA

— County Championship (@CountyChamp) August 29, 2017

Ashwin not certain for WC 2019

The fifth highest taker for India in Tests, Ashwin, hasn’t had a great time in white-ball cricket. In his last 11 ODIs, Ashwin has given runs at 5.94 an over and picked just 10 wickets at 55.8. There are doubts about his perpetuity in the side as India is looking for wrist spinning options. Given that the World Cup of 2019 is in England, Ashwin can get back in contention with a bunch full of wickets to stake a claim in the side.

In Tests, though, Ashwin remains indispensable. He has had a remarkable two years with the red ball picking bucket full of wickets along with getting four hundreds with the bat batting in the lower middle order. In 52 Tests, the off spinner has 292 wickets at 25.26 including 26 five-wicket hauls and 7 ten-wicket hauls. With the bat, the right-hander has scored 2035 runs at 32.82 including 11 fifties.