Ravichandran Ashwin
Ravichandran Ashwin () (born 17 September 1986) is an Indian international cricketer. He is a right-arm off spin bowler and a lower order batter. Widely regarded as one of the most prolific off spinners of all time, he represents the Indian cricket team and was part of the Indian team that won the 2011 Cricket World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy. He plays for Tamil Nadu and South Zone in domestic cricket and for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
In this Indian name, the name Ravichandran is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Ashwin.Personal information
17 September 1986
Madras, Tamil Nadu, India
188[3] cm (6 ft 2 in)
Right-handed
Right-arm off spin
- India (2010–present)
6 November 2011 v West Indies
9 March 2024 v England
5 June 2010 v Sri Lanka
08 October 2023 v Australia
99
12 June 2010 v Zimbabwe
10 November 2022 v England
99
1.35 million
165.5 million
Ashwin has 500 wickets in Tests and is the fastest bowler to reach 300 wickets in terms of number of innings. He has won ten Man of the Series awards in Tests, which is the highest by an Indian cricketer and the second highest overall. As an all-rounder in Test cricket, he bats down the order, has scored five Test centuries and is one of the only three players to have scored 3000 runs and taken 500 wickets in Tests. As of February 2024, Ashwin is the highest-ranked bowler in the ICC men's player rankings and the highest rated Indian bowler ever in Tests.
Ashwin started as an opening batsman but dropped down the order due to limited success and turned into an off-break bowler. He made his first-class debut for Tamil Nadu in December 2006 and captained the team the following season. He played for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the 2010 Indian Premier League, where his economical bowling led to his maiden international call-up in the limited-overs formats in June 2010. He was the leading wicket-taker and player of the tournament of the 2010 Champions League Twenty20, which was won by CSK. He also won the 2014 Champions League Twenty20 and two IPL titles (2010, 2011) with CSK.
In 2011, he made his Test debut against West Indies and became the seventh Indian bowler to take a five-wicket haul on debut. Ashwin had greater success with the turning tracks in the Indian subcontinent, including taking 29 wickets in a series against Australia, the most by any Indian bowler in a four-match Test series. In the 2015–16 season, Ashwin took 48 wickets and scored 336 runs in eight Test matches, along with 27 wickets in 19 T20Is, enabling him to win the ICC Cricketer of the Year and ICC Men's Test Cricketer of the Year awards for 2016. He has been named five times to the ICC Men's Test Team of the Year and was named in the ICC Men's Test Team of the Decade 2011–20. In 2015, he was awarded the Arjuna award by the Government of India.
Early and personal life[edit]
Ashwin was born on 17 September 1986 in Madras, Tamil Nadu, to Ravichandran and Chitra.[4] His father, Ravichandran, played cricket at club level as a fast bowler.[5][6] Ashwin did his initial schooling at Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan.[7] Later, he switched to St. Bede's School for higher secondary.[8] He graduated with a BTech in Information Technology from SSN college of engineering, Chennai.[9]
Ashwin started playing cricket at the age of nine for YMCA and was coached by Chandrasekar Rao during the early part of his career.[7] Later, when he switched to St. Bede's, which had a cricket academy, he was coached by C K Vijaya Kumar.[10][11] Initially, he took up medium pace bowling before he switched to off spin on the advice of his coach Vijay.[7] He was later coached by former spinner Sunil Subramaniam and mentored by former cricketer W V Raman.[8] He had represented the Indian under-17 team as an opening batter.[5]
Ashwin resides in West Mambalam, Chennai.[4] He married his childhood friend, Prithi Narayanan, on 13 November 2011.[12] They have two daughters.[13][14]
Domestic career[edit]
Tamil Nadu[edit]
Ashwin represented Tamil Nadu in domestic cricket.[31] Ashwin made his first class debut for Tamil Nadu in the Ranji trophy match against Haryana in 2006 at the age of 20, taking six wickets.[31][130] He made his List A debut in 2007 against Andhra, taking two wickets.[131] His T20 debut came in a victory against Andhra in the interstate T20 tournament next month.[132] He has represented the team in multiple seasons in the Ranji Trophy.[133] Ashwin captained the Tamil Nadu team that won the Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2008-09 and reached the semi-finals in 2015.[134][135] He was part of the team that reached the final of the tournament in 2019.[136] Ashwin has also played for South zone team.[137] Ashwin captained the India A side in the Deodhar Trophy in 2018.[138] Ashwin played for Chemplast in the TNCA first division league until 2018 when he moved to Mylapore RC. He signed on to represent India Cements in 2020.[139]
TNPL[edit]
Ashwin was drafted in as the captain of the Dindigul Dragons franchise for the inaugural season of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) T20 tournament.[140][141] He has represented the same franchise for seven seasons, leading them to two finals in 2018 and 2019.[142][143]
County career[edit]
In August 2017, Ashwin made his English county debut with Worcestershire against Gloucestershire, taking three wickets.[144] He again returned to play for Worcestershire for the 2018 season.[145] In 2019, Nottinghamshire signed Ashwin for the second half of the 2019 County Championship season.[146] Ashwin made his debut against Essex at Trent Bridge and made significant contributions for the county, claiming 34 wickets and 339 runs in five matches.[146]
In popular culture[edit]
Ashwin runs his own YouTube channel where he does analysis of cricket matches, interviews and movie reviews.[232] Ashwin runs a cricket academy called "Gen-Next Cricket Institute" in Chennai where he mentors young kids.[233] Ashwin appeared in videos circulated by Tamil Nadu State Election Commission to help create electoral awareness by encouraging voters to check whether their names were on the electoral roll.[234]