India went on to defeat Bangladesh 2-0 in a Test series on Tuesday and veteran off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin measured an unprecedented fifth Player of the Series honor. Especially against spinners and when playing Tests at home, Ashwin has built a very productive partnership with Ravindra Jadeja. The duo has taken 830 Test wickets, Ashwin taking the lion’s share of the 527. While only one of them is picked in the XI when the surface is not a rank turner, Ashwin however indicated that the selection quandary does not bother him anymore.
Admissions that one will frequently ‘bad mouth’ one’s teammate if they are selected over them, however, have become outdated, and Ashwin expressed how ‘in the past, this used to be the case with Jadeja.’
It’s very simple. If he plays, I will talk bad about him all day, all night. A little bit, it used to irritate me, I won’t deny it. Because we all want to play. But, it doesn’t any longer because the bigger picture is in focus,’ Ashwin added during the post-match presser.
Nonetheless, he noted that Jadeja merits commendation due to his being touted as one of the best all-rounders of 21st century cricket.
“Second left arm with 300 and I believe 3000 runs to go with it as well. That one’s got to be doing those sort of things. If he’s the one that needs to play, he needs to play and I trust him 100%. I support him when he goes to the field,’ he continued.
Earlier this week, Jadeja became the third Indian cricketer in history to reach the landmark of scoring 3000 runs and taking 300 wickets in Test matches. He has hence become a member of the group that consists of Ashwin and Kapil Dev.
Turning to Ashwin, he made headlines as he became the first bowler in the history of World Test Championship WTC to have taken at least fifty wickets in all three editions of the championship.
The Indian spinner made the achievement on the 4th day of the second test match against, Bangladesh which was played in Kanpur on Monday, when he claimed the wicket of Shakib Al Hasan who was out for 9.
Ashwin, who currently holds the number one Test bowler ranking in the world, has achieved the milestone of 50 wickets in 10 matches and overall, Ashwin is the second rank in WTC overall highest wicket-taker list after Nathan Lyon of Australia.
