Ravichandran Ashwin has shown his class with the ball once again in the 2nd Test match against England by taking all advantages of turning pitch and also by scoring an important hundred in the second innings of the match with the bat. While playing on his home ground consecutively for 2 games, he delivered a superb performance with the ball which was quite obvious. However, he surprised all fans by delivering a brilliant hundred in the crucial situation of the match when no other batsmen seemed to be able to handle a surface that became increasingly difficult to play as the match progressed.
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R Ashwin – the All-Rounder
India lost the first match of the series against England on the same ground but made a strong comeback by winning the second Test with 317 runs to level the 4-match series 1-1. Ashwin played a huge role in this victory, taking a total of 8 wickets in the match and scoring a brilliant 106 runs in 148 balls in the second innings when the team was struggling on 86 for 5.
R Ashwin in the First Half of the Match
After scoring 329 runs on the board in the first innings, Indian bowlers quickly got adapted to pitch conditions. Ishant Sharma and Ashwin started their opening spells with the new ball and also managed to take few initial wickets at the early stage of the game. Ashwin bowled accurately with different variations that helped him take a 5-wicket haul in the first innings of the match.
In his opening spell, Ashwin managed to take the wicket of Dom Sibly who played brilliantly in the first Test match. Ashwin pitched the ball slightly on leg stump and was able to take the wicket with the help of Virat Kohli who caught the slight edge. After this wicket, Ashwin continued to take wickets as he dismissed Dan Lawrence and bowled a superb delivery to Ben Stokes to send him back to the pavilion on 18. He also sent back Olly Stone and Stuart Broad to complete his fifer. He completed his 23rd fifer at home to surpass Jimmy Anderson. After securing this fifer in the first innings and restricting the guests just to 134, Ashwin did a brilliant job in the batting department to score a hundred with 14 fours and 1 six when the Indian team was struggling with batting after Ajinkya Rahane’s departure.
Most 5-fers in Home Tests
| Player | Inns | Home wickets | Ave | SR | 5-fers |
| Murali (SL) | 134 | 493 | 19.56 | 50.8 | 45 |
| Herath (SL) | 92 | 278 | 23.65 | 51.3 | 26 |
| Kumble (IND) | 115 | 350 | 24.88 | 59.4 | 25 |
| Ashwin (IND) | 86 | 268 | 22.54 | 49 | 23 |
| Anderson (ENG) | 169 | 384 | 23.83 | 50.2 | 22 |
As can be seen from the above table, R Ashwin is just two 5-wicket hauls away from equalling with the great Kumble and 3 away from equalling Sri Lankan spinner Rangana Herath and becoming the second player on this table.
R Ashwin in the Second Half of the Match
After Ashwin’s brilliance in the batting department, he again demonstrated his class in bowling in the second innings by picking up 3 important wickets. By the end of the 3rd day, England’s team lost 3 wickets and Ashwin had 1 from these 3 wickets in his pocket. On the 4th day, England’s captain Joe root and Dan Lawrence tried to settle down the innings facing the early spells of Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel but failed to do so.
Ashwin used a lot of variation during his opening spell of the fourth day and managed to pick up the wickets of Dan Lawrence. Lawrence managed to score 26 runs in this innings and India started to pick momentum on the 4th day of the match after this wicket. Ashwin bowled beautifully and gave chance to the batsman to step out which converted into a wicket for him. After dismissing Lawrence, Ben Stokes and Joe Root settled England’s innings and Stokes was performing like a set batsman but he played 50 deliveries only together with Root. Then again Ashwin came and delivered what he is known for. He broke that important partnership and sent Ben Stokes back on 8 from 51 deliveries. Kohli caught him on Ashwin’s brilliance in variations. This wicket transferred the whole momentum towards India and India easily managed to defeat England in the second Test match by a huge margin of 317 runs.
Man of theMan of the Match R Ashwin
awarded the Man of the Match for his first-class all-around performance in both departments. He bowled 24 overs in the first innings and conceded 43 runs to pick up his fifer. He also bowled 4 maiden overs in this innings. In the second innings, he managed to pick 3 important wickets and bowled 18 overs. In the same innings, he also scored 106 runs from 148 balls.
Ashwin looked like he had already studied this pitch carefully and was delivering just according to his plan in both innings. He tried a lot of variations and got his well-earned reward for his efforts. He was also very close to being on the list of players who delivered such type of all-round performance as he took a fifer and scored a hundred in the same Test match. Despite not reaching this milestone, there was only one who truly deserved to be named the Man of the Match, R Ashwin.