R. Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin is an Indian international cricketer. He is 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).

Early life:

Ashwin was born to Ravichandran and Chitra. His father, Ravichandran, played cricket at club level as a fast bowler. Ashwin did his schooling at Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan and St. Bede’s Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School. He started playing cricket at the age of nine for YMCA and was coached by Chandrasekar Rao during the early part of his career.

He represented the Indian under – 17 team as an opening batter. Later, he took up medium pace bowling before switching to off spin. He graduated with a BTech in Information Technology from SSN college of engineering, Chennai.

Ashwin resides in West Mambalam, Chennai. He married his childhood friend, Prithi Narayanan, on 13 November 2011. They have two daughters.

Domestic Career:

• 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.

International Career:

• Test debut: For India on 6 November 2011 against West Indies
• ODI debut: For India on 5 June 2010 against Sri Lanka
• T20I debut: For India on 12 June 2010 against Zimbabwe

Major Achievements:

• 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.
• In 2015, he was awarded the Arjuna award by the Government of India.