Can Ravichandran Ashwin be one of the indian greats?

[Swaraj!!]

So not a fair weather batsman at all!!! My apologies to Ashwin.

However, not one to dominate the opposition as the likes of Kapils and Bothams. He will be very effective if there is an attacking batsman alongside him.

Dont know why Saha has been taking so much flak. In tests he has already shown himself to be miles ahead of dhoni, as a keeper and even as a batsman.

 

[street cricketer]

Needs to improve his game against back of length balls and against spin. Then he can become a 40+ averaging batsman. He's already a more than handy batsman.

Woakes will soon challenge him for the no.1 all rounder position though. His rise has been phenomenal. After ending up with figures of 200-1 in South Africa to getting the record for the highest ever wicket taker in a series against Pakistan, his run of form has been outstanding. He looks very assured as a batsman and can get into most sides as both a batsman and a bowler at this point in time. However the challenge is to replicate the form outside England as well.

 

[dani2k]

I have concerns about Ashwin being made into an Allrounder because India needs Ashwin the bowler more than Ashwin the batsman considering our limited bowling prowess and resources.

But looks like this is working at the moment and the team is benefiting..I would rather have Ashwin as a stop gap arrangement only and look to develop the likes of Shankar or Pandya for this role. Ashwin is too precious for us to be lost like Pathan. I do hope that whatever people like Giri has mentioned holds good. Fingers crossed!

 

[SL_Fan]

Very handy cricketer to have in the side no doubt about that. Decent fielder as well.

 

[Swaraj!!]

Very handy cricketer to have in the side no doubt about that. Decent fielder as well.

Not so sure about being a decent fielder. I always felt he was a bit average. But bowling and batting wise, we definitely have one who seems to be on the edge of something truly amazing.

 

[geraltofrivia]

Not so sure about being a decent fielder. I always felt he was a bit average. But bowling and batting wise, we definitely have one who seems to be on the edge of something truly amazing.

Safe catcher. Outfielding not so good.

 

[AlizeeFan]

He is already there. These days, there are lot more matches, therefore as it looks Ash is playing for just few years. But, Vinnu Mankad played 44 (or 43) Tests in almost 20 years, and their stats are comparable - so you know.

Only issue is, Ash has to improve his away bowling figures significantly, otherwise statistically he'll be one of the best ever (like Vinod Kambly), but won't get the respect from his peers. He has to make the 2018 English & AUS tour count, because he'll be 32+ by then, might not be at his best for the next series.

Anderson is already one of the best of modern era with averages of 38 and 40 in Aus and SA respectively. He has picked up 4 five wicket hauls in 50 tests. Ashwin has already picked 5 five wicket hauls in 16 away matches.

 

[Tusker]

How is he an ATG? My only criterion is performance in tests and Vettori was very poor in that format. Only Warne and Murali qualify for the ATG tag among spinners unless you go back to the likes of Underwood and Laker etc. who played on completely different wickets.

Not an ATG spinner but certainly a great player especially if the batting is included and he is the only spin allrounder. I will be happy if Ashwin gets any close to 400 wkts + 4K Runs. Only other player to do that is Kapil.

 

[MMHS]

Anderson is already one of the best of modern era with averages of 38 and 40 in Aus and SA respectively. He has picked up 4 five wicket hauls in 50 tests. Ashwin has already picked 5 five wicket hauls in 16 away matches.

I didn't say Stats - I said respect. Do you think that picking 5 fers against current WI or Srilanaka or for that matter at Fatullah would earn him the same respect of Kapil Dev or Vinnu Mankad?

 

[geraltofrivia]

I didn't say Stats - I said respect. Do you think that picking 5 fers against current WI or Srilanaka or for that matter at Fatullah would earn him the same respect of Kapil Dev or Vinnu Mankad?

But he has also taken 5 fors against SA and Aus and NZ too

 

[MMHS]

But he has also taken 5 fors against SA and Aus and NZ too

I didn't say against, I said "in".

Why confusing yourself yaar, for the "alleged" India allergy of the poster? My post is there intact & I have written that small piece after checking once. Read it carefully & you should find every clue in it.

 

[Ab Fan]

I didn't say against, I said "in".

Why confusing yourself yaar, for the "alleged" India allergy of the poster? My post is there intact & I have written that small piece after checking once. Read it carefully & you should find every clue in it.

how would u rate him as a bowling AR?

 

[MMHS]

how would u rate him as a bowling AR?

He is almost a genuine all-rounder; but again, his 3 Test hundreds are against this Mighty WI & probably he is going to get one more today. In his 131 Tests career, Kapil could manage 8 in total.

And, he is taking 5.5 wickets/Test with a average of around 25 for a spinner - that's 4 less than Kapil & at least 3 better than any Indian legendary spinner. I reserve my comments regarding the quality of contemporary cricket, but statistically, he is better than Kapil, way, way better. In fact Kapil & Imran completed 1st doubles in 30 Tests, probably Hadlee in 35, Sobers 48 & Kallis 47, Miller 32 - this guy has reached there in 25 or 26. Only Mankad at 23 & Botham at 21 was better & probably Polly was in 25/26 - these names are legends of the game, colossus.

As I said again - Ash has to improve his performance, where it earns him respect. Cricket world is not the same of 80s, when the worst team (barring SRL) was IND, which still had 6 or 7 of their all time greats.

 

[Titan of Technique]

[MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] apart from Sunny and Dev and to some extent Chandrasekhar who are the all time greats u speak of ? The likes of Amarnath and Bedi were very good test cricketers but not all time greats

 

[AlizeeFan]

He is almost a genuine all-rounder; but again, his 3 Test hundreds are against this Mighty WI & probably he is going to get one more today. In his 131 Tests career, Kapil could manage 8 in total.

And, he is taking 5.5 wickets/Test with a average of around 25 for a spinner - that's 4 less than Kapil & at least 3 better than any Indian legendary spinner. I reserve my comments regarding the quality of contemporary cricket, but statistically, he is better than Kapil, way, way better. In fact Kapil & Imran completed 1st doubles in 30 Tests, probably Hadlee in 35, Sobers 48 & Kallis 47, Miller 32 - this guy has reached there in 25 or 26. Only Mankad at 23 & Botham at 21 was better & probably Polly was in 25/26 - these names are legends of the game, colossus.

As I said again - Ash has to improve his performance, where it earns him respect. Cricket world is not the same of 80s, when the worst team (barring SRL) was IND, which still had 6 or 7 of their all time greats.

I didn't say Stats - I said respect. Do you think that picking 5 fers against current WI or Srilanaka or for that matter at Fatullah would earn him the same respect of Kapil Dev or Vinnu Mankad?

No, I don't think so. But I feel that for respect part he will have to do more than what can be considered decent performance for a spinner overseas, Main reason would be the huge gap between his home and overseas performances and this thought that he is getting too many easy wickets in helpful conditions at home. Someone (don't remember who) even tweeted him about this. So even if he performs better than what most spinners are able to do overseas, unless it is very good performance or something similar to what he does at home in at least 1 test or so on each tour, his performance might not be valued for long time.

 

[CricketAnalyst]

Ashwin has got three 100s already albeit vs WI but he has been a very decent batsmen and can make a claim as a bowling AR.

He is a proper batsman.

He was in fact picked ahead of Rohit Sharma as a specialist bat in their youth days.

He is batting very well, reflected in the fact that when it comes to Test or ODI he is a very competent and capable batsman.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Ashwin in his 51 innings has crossed 50+ 10 times.

Scored 100 in 4 of them.

And in every single of the innings, he walked out with India in dire straits.

Be it saving his team from follow on...or steadying the ship after collapse....or scoring after a complete collapse....or with the team trailing the other time by a big margin....he has scored in all of those situations.

Even the 2 40s in his career in England came when India was in deep trouble.

Needs to get more consistent in general (score in more important situations) and also score a bit of soft runs too.

He was on track to score a 100 against Eng after defying Anderson's reverse swing, Finn's seam, Swann and Panesar's swing but was stranded on 91*.

 

[SandyB]

Ashwin usually bowls well in the matches that he bats well . If spending time at the crease can help him later as the bowler it's a good trait .

 

[Ab Fan]

He is almost a genuine all-rounder; but again, his 3 Test hundreds are against this Mighty WI & probably he is going to get one more today. In his 131 Tests career, Kapil could manage 8 in total.

And, he is taking 5.5 wickets/Test with a average of around 25 for a spinner - that's 4 less than Kapil & at least 3 better than any Indian legendary spinner. I reserve my comments regarding the quality of contemporary cricket, but statistically, he is better than Kapil, way, way better. In fact Kapil & Imran completed 1st doubles in 30 Tests, probably Hadlee in 35, Sobers 48 & Kallis 47, Miller 32 - this guy has reached there in 25 or 26. Only Mankad at 23 & Botham at 21 was better & probably Polly was in 25/26 - these names are legends of the game, colossus.

As I said again - Ash has to improve his performance, where it earns him respect. Cricket world is not the same of 80s, when the worst team (barring SRL) was IND, which still had 6 or 7 of their all time greats.

Agreed.I could see Ash making a place along with those legends if he could have a few standout performances in those places as u mentioned(particularly Eng and SA as I don't expect much from spinners in Aus(except Adelaide/sydney) or NZ.

 

[MMHS]

[MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] apart from Sunny and Dev and to some extent Chandrasekhar who are the all time greats u speak of ? The likes of Amarnath and Bedi were very good test cricketers but not all time greats

Take a period of 1975 to 1990 -

Sunny, Kapil, Vishi, Dulip, Azhar, Amarnath, Chandra, Pras, Bedi, Jimmy & Kirmani - all of them are contenders for Indian All time XVI squad, most of them would make it as well - for ODI, you can add Ravi & Krish as well.

Arguably, Bedi is the best ever SLAO spinner & Prassanna is probably the best classical Offie from Asia.

 

[Hasan123]

Won't be an atg all rounder. But certainly on course to be a world class one. Can finish as an atg bowler depending on performance on overseas tours.

 

[Chrish]

The silly obsession with ATG tag..

Let the guy play decent number of matches first before slitting wrists

 

[cricketjoshila]

I have small doubt here,may be [MENTION=141829]geraltofrivia[/MENTION] @nikhli_cric [MENTION=134809]sensible-indian-fan[/MENTION] [MENTION=139664]street cricketer[/MENTION] can answer it.

How many test centuries by Kapil againist non minnows,basically leave out SL of that era

How many 5 fors by Kallis againist non minnows,basically leave out ZIM and BAN.

Thank You.

 

[Sachin136]

How many test centuries by Kapil againist non minnows,basically leave out SL of that era

7

How many 5 fors by Kallis againist non minnows,basically leave out ZIM and BAN.

3 (2 against the West Indies who weren't minnows in the early 00s and 1 against England)

 

[TestMatch]

Ravi Bopara averages 118.33 vs the West Indies, with 3 tons.

I'd treat Ashwin's success with the bat with a huge grain of salt.

 

[Tusker]

Take a period of 1975 to 1990 -

Sunny, Kapil, Vishi, Dulip, Azhar, Amarnath, Chandra, Pras, Bedi, Jimmy & Kirmani - all of them are contenders for Indian All time XVI squad, most of them would make it as well - for ODI, you can add Ravi & Krish as well.

Arguably, Bedi is the best ever SLAO spinner & Prassanna is probably the best classical Offie from Asia.

Again ... the standings are hugely influenced by the huge first movers advantage that the old timers have and cricket worlds extreme love for nostalgia and anything thats old. The only 2 people that are most likely to make a final XI are Sunny and Kapil.

 

[SLcric123]

He avgs 25 with the ball and 33 with the bat and already has 5 MOS in his bag.

Can he join likes of Kapil Dev, Pollock and Botham as a bowling All-Rounder?

I think he can..

Bump..!!!

 

[DRsohail]

I think he can..

Bump..!!!

3 to 4 years from now he will be there..

 

[jnaveen1980]

There are different types of all rounders. He is a bit like Ravi Shastri albeit Ravi was a better batsman . Ashwin is a better bowler.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Regardless of whether he is an all rounder or not he is definitely on his way to becoming an one of the best if not the best MVP to play for India. He saved so many tests purely with bat not to mention won several with bowling.

 

[Ab Fan]

Definitely a genuine All-Rounder now..

His contributions with bat can't be ignored.His 70 vs Eng was a valuable knock played with tailenders and although at times he has failed to convert his 30s-40s into big ones but still his 30s -40s comes when it really matters.

He has still maintained his stats which isn't the case too often with All-Rounders and hence its a great deal.

Well on its way to become one of the great All-Rounders in the world and perhaps the greatest of this era. .

 

[moghul]

He is Younis Khan of Indian cricket, great performer in helpful home wickets and useless in overseas conditions.

 

[Justcrazy]

His batting was good , but with encouragement of captains and coach it has become better.

But the key is he is hard working , he works hard and puts in effort.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Day by day he is making his claim stronger.

Personally, I don't trust Ashwin as a pure batsman (and rightly so) but the way he has been getting those crucial runs time and again for India is just fantastic.

This guy averages around 35 odd and around 95%+ of his runs came in situations where every single run was precious. He may have very well averaged 42-43 and had 50% of the impact he currently has.

And this is his weaker suit. It would be interesting to see how other ATG allrounders fared in their career in their weaker suit (impact wise). Botham was a pure pukka bat for a few years (can't say which is his weaker suit - batting or bowling), Imran was extremely reliable lower order bat, Sobers has won series for WI with his bowling.....but I wouldn't be surprised if Ash is also right up there amongst the best when it comes to impact with his weaker suit.

If you subtract his runs since his debut and imagine how the matches would have turned out, its really scary to think.

Just imagine how this series would have turned out if not for this guy. Of course, his runs would have been meaningless without the top order and Kohli contribution but that logic goes for everything.

Let's hope he takes more wickets this series. In my opinion, he has been a bit unlucky to not have taken more wickets (dropped catches, missed stumpings, underbowled in this test a bit) but then luck has favoured him in the past so can't complain much.

 

[Mainul]

He is going to be.

He bats like a specialist batsman.

An amazing talent India has got.I am just severely impressed by Ashwin, the all rounder.

 

[Navdeep Srivastava]

The thing about his runs are that they always came in difficult time, the only reason his average is low because he usually don't score when India is in good position.

 

[Adil_94]

he can definitely become an Indian Great as an all rounder idk about ATG but he is a world class Test all rounder for sure.

 

[Justcrazy]

He is a great find for India , a genuine all rounder

 

[jnaveen1980]

Ashwin is a touch player. He hardly has any record at the first class level. So it is a mystery to see how well he bats at the international level. Some of the shots he played yesterday would make players like Laxman, Tendulkar proud. Especially the straight drive against Anderson was gorgeous.

 

[jnaveen1980]

The thing about his runs are that they always came in difficult time, the only reason his average is low because he usually don't score when India is in good position.

He is the definition of MVP. High time cricket's statistics are used effectively to judge the worth of a player. In cricket you can easily mask your short comings by performing in useless matches. For instance you can score 5 ducks in a 3 test series and make up for it by scoring a 300 in one innings which would put your averages at 50.

 

[AamchiMumbaikar]

Him and Kohli score when it matters the most, combined with his he is 'The MVP' of this test team in sub continent.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

I have small doubt here,may be [MENTION=141829]geraltofrivia[/MENTION] @nikhli_cric [MENTION=134809]sensible-indian-fan[/MENTION] [MENTION=139664]street cricketer[/MENTION] can answer it.

How many test centuries by Kapil againist non minnows,basically leave out SL of that era

How many 5 fors by Kallis againist non minnows,basically leave out ZIM and BAN.

Thank You.

Dunno why no one answered your question. We may have missed it.

Kapil scored 7 out of 8 centuries against non minnows (SL). Home average 36. Away average 26.

Kallis took 3 out of 5 5fers against non minnows (Bang). Home average 30. Away average 34.

 

[Ab Fan]

Undoubtedly.

Fastest to 400 test wickets:-

Murali 72
Ashwin 76-77( approx)
Kumble 85
Warne 92
Harbhajan 96
Lyon 100( approx)

5 test hundreds too.

 

[Chrish]

No. He is like Hadlee a bowler who can bat a bit.. Not a genuine all-rounder like Jadeja.

 

[Hyperion66]

No. He is like Hadlee a bowler who can bat a bit.. Not a genuine all-rounder like Jadeja.

I disagree, one doesn't hit 5 centuries by batting a bit, he is a genuine strokemaker with the bat not a tailender. He actually was averaging around 35 with the bat before hitting a rough patch during 2017/18. He seems to have finally overcome that.

 

[jusarrived]

No. He is like Hadlee a bowler who can bat a bit.. Not a genuine all-rounder like Jadeja.

Ashwin is a far superior test bat than Jadeja . He has some weakness against spin, but against pace hes as good as any top order bat .

 

[Ab Fan]

Ashwin generally converts his starts into big ones. Jadeja is a more consistent 50+ scorer.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

True....

But that's due to 6 tests played in Aus mainly.

Overseas...he has played only in 3 countries...and 2 innings in SA and Eng and only 1 proper innings in each of Eng and SA. The other two were just some overs.

You remember, at one point, people said he can only bash almost minnows at home like WI.

Today, his 2nd worst home record is against WI (first being England). His record against SA, NZ and Aus at home are way better.

I am watching his bowling and if he keeps his rhythm (which he didn't in the last innings ), he is gonna surprise a lot of people.

He has pretty much all the weapons in his arsenal these days. Improved his flight a lot since the SA series but again...has to become consistent with it and not lose rhythm.

Stats are just a final result of a lot of action taking place beforehand.

Revisiting this post 4.5 years later.

I remember the old days when Ashwin would be treated with complete disdain.

He has come a long long way.

One solid England tour can seal his legacy forever.

He nails that and he will be universally rated as an ATG spinner.

Last SENA cycle, he was very good inspite of injuries which truly messed up his stats (and it was still pretty good - 29 avg).

His focus should be on staying fit (not another Southampton please lol) and getting stronger (will help him do better on flatter tracks).

 

[King_Kohli]

He is already ATG.

Hundred and five-wkt haul in a Test most times

5 Ian Botham
3 R ASHWIN
2 Gary Sobers/ Mushtaq Mohammad/ Jacques Kallis/ Shakib-Al-Hasan

 

[King_Kohli]

Century and a 5-for by Indians in the same Test match:

R Ashwin - 3 times
All other Indians - 2 times (Mankad in 1952 & Umrigar in 1962)

 

[Mamoon]

Greatest Asian Test all-rounder of all time. He has now surpassed Imran and Kapil.

It is incredible to think he still has 3-4 years left at Test level.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

He is already ATG.

Hundred and five-wkt haul in a Test most times

5 Ian Botham
3 R ASHWIN
2 Gary Sobers/ Mushtaq Mohammad/ Jacques Kallis/ Shakib-Al-Hasan

I am talking about ATG in bowling.

Maybe.

May not be.

But its not unanimous at this point imho.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

If he becomes an ATG spinner, he will become an ATG allrounder too (if he hasnt already) as he will always contribute with the bat now and then.

His batting looked like it was completely gone but he has revived it.

Now he must focus on cutting out risky shots to eliminate needless dismissals.

Jaddu did that and he looks like a proper bat these days.

 

[Ab Fan]

Greatest Asian Test all-rounder of all time. He has now surpassed Imran and Kapil.

Without a doubt, without a doubt.

He is the biggest weapon of Kohli's Indian test team.

Series defining performances at home vs Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, England and West Indies.

Series defining performance in Sri Lanka and West Indies.

Series defining performance in Australia.

The most impactful test cricketer of this generation without a doubt, without a doubt.

 

[jnaveen1980]

He is an out and out MVP

 

[jnaveen1980]

lol

Honestly Jadeja is still vulnerable against raw pace/bounce. He can look very awkward. Jadeja is a betterball striker. He developed himself into one. Ashwin at the start of his career was compared with Laxman for his sublime timing.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Honestly Jadeja is still vulnerable against raw pace/bounce. He can look very awkward. Jadeja is a betterball striker. He developed himself into one. Ashwin at the start of his career was compared with Laxman for his sublime timing.

Raw talent wise, Ashwin is next level compared to Jaddu in test batting.

But Jaddu has cut out poor shots and tightened up his defense.

He is ridiculously assured in test batting.

So so so far ahead of Ash currently.

Ashwin is still unreliable due to his poor shot selection from time to time.

If he can change that, maybe he can realize his batting potential. But I doubt he will do it. He needs to adopt a strategy that is OPPOSITE of what he does while bowling.

Fat chance of it happening.

 

[Saurav]

If he becomes an ATG spinner, he will become an ATG allrounder too (if he hasnt already) as he will always contribute with the bat now and then.

His batting looked like it was completely gone but he has revived it.

Now he must focus on cutting out risky shots to eliminate needless dismissals.

Jaddu did that and he looks like a proper bat these days.

He was always supposed to better bat than Jaddu

But it inexcplicably went down and thus he missed overseas games when we played 1 spinner

Good to see it coming back

Both him and Jaddu are great assets on any pitch now

 

[Saurav]

Honestly Jadeja is still vulnerable against raw pace/bounce. He can look very awkward. Jadeja is a betterball striker. He developed himself into one. Ashwin at the start of his career was compared with Laxman for his sublime timing.

We mustn't devalue one to praise the other.Jaddu may not have tons but has been very consistent

Remains to be seen how he comes back from injury

 

[jeeteshssaxena]

Raw talent wise, Ashwin is next level compared to Jaddu in test batting.

Jadeja has three triple hundreds.
I think he is way better than Ashwin as far as batting talent is concerned.

Its just that Jadeja the batsman proved himself only in the last three years before that he was average.

 

[Extra_Cover]

Ashwin is in ATG tier without a doubt. It would be good to hear from posters as to who they feel was a better test cricketer; Ashwin or Kumble?

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Jadeja has three triple hundreds.
I think he is way better than Ashwin as far as batting talent is concerned.

Its just that Jadeja the batsman proved himself only in the last three years before that he was average.

Thats output.

Raw talent is based on factors like timing, placement, strokemaking skills, picking the length early, ability to play swing, seam, bounce & spin.

Ashwin when he first burst on to the scene was comfortable against all types of bowling.

Looked like an all conditions batsman potentially and his output was pretty good initially before he stopped improving.

Back then, he would make tough pitches look easy.

Even in this test, he executed sweep very well and showed the world how to properly use it on this pitch.

A shot which he hadn't played for the last 13-15 years.

That's talent.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

In fact, Ashwin was blessed with immense batting talent by birth.

His bowling was developed through hard work (also aided by physical attributes like height and long fingers).

Some basic bowling talent must have been there of course but he wasn't gifted in this regard.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Jaddu is a born athlete.

He can do anything without breaking a sweat.

His hard work to build upon his magical physical attributes is why he is where he is today.

 

[Zaz]

This latest hundred wasnt anything special England were horrid in the field n he was given 3 lives n countless miscues He shouldnt have made more than 25 tbh

Hes a good lower order batter but hardly an allrounder

 

[Buffet]

I see many posters dismissing Ashwin as a normal good tail.


Ashwin has scored 25 runs per inning with 5 tons so far.

To put it in perspective,

IK scored 30 runs per inning with 6 tons in his entire career.



Not a comparison here, but IK's example should drive the point home.

Its unrealistic to expect bowling all-rounder to score 35-40 runs per inning.

 

[Buffet]

Greatest Asian Test all-rounder of all time. He has now surpassed Imran and Kapil.

It is incredible to think he still has 3-4 years left at Test level.

Without going into comparison, some posters simply downplay a lot. Ashwin has scored 25 runs per inning with 5 tons. Someone like IK scored 30 runs per inning with 6 tons in his entire career. Ashwin shouldn't be dismissed as a lower-order good bat.

4 of his tons came when India scores were,

156/6
126/5
236/4
106/6

He also had 91* against Eng in the 2012 series. He was instrumental in batting 50+ overs to keep Aus away in the last Indian last series win in Aus. He has helped to draw many tests.

There is no way Ashwin is not an all-rounder. Bowling all-rounders normally don't score 35-40 per inning. Some fans expect too much.

 

[Ab Fan]

I see many posters dismissing Ashwin as a normal good tail.


Ashwin has scored 25 runs per inning with 5 tons so far.

To put it in perspective,

IK scored 30 runs per inning with 6 tons in his entire career.



Not a comparison here, but IK's example should drive the point home.

Its unrealistic to expect bowling all-rounder to score 35-40 runs per inning.

Shaun Pollock has a RPI of 24.

Daniel Vettori has a RPI of 26.

In contrast, Wasim Akram has a RPI of slightly less than 20.

 

[Buffet]

Shaun Pollock has a RPI of 24.

Daniel Vettori has a RPI of 26.

In contrast, Wasim Akram has a RPI of slightly less than 20.

Yes, 15 to 20 to 25 to 30 runs... That's a huge progression for bowling all-rounders.

 

[Mamoon]

Without going into comparison, some posters simply downplay a lot. Ashwin has scored 25 runs per inning with 5 tons. Someone like IK scored 30 runs per inning with 6 tons in his entire career. Ashwin shouldn't be dismissed as a lower-order good bat.

4 of his tons came when India scores were,

156/6
126/5
236/4
106/6

He also had 91* against Eng in the 2012 series. He was instrumental in batting 50+ overs to keep Aus away in the last Indian last series win in Aus. He has helped to draw many tests.

There is no way Ashwin is not an all-rounder. Bowling all-rounders normally don't score 35-40 per inning. Some fans expect too much.

There is obviously a strong anti-India bias at play here. If Ashwin was Pakistani with the same record and impact, people won’t have a problem comparing him with Imran.

All-rounders have strong and weak suits. There is probably no such as thing a pure all-rounder because you are either a batting or a bowling all-rounder.

Peak Botham is probably the only genuine pure all-rounder in history because his batting and bowling were equally great in his first 50 odd Tests.

For the vast majority of all-rounders, their weaker suit is usually not good enough for them to be considered world class in that department.

If Ashwin was as good as batsman as he is as a bowler, he would simply be the greatest player of all time, but is not the case.

His batting is very good for an elite spinner and he has played many valuable knocks. He is a legendary bowling all-rounder like Imran and certainly merits a comparison, especially when you consider that he still has a few years left.

I don’t have an issue with anyone arguing that Imran was better, but to claim that there is no comparison between the two and Ashwin is nowhere near is completely wrong.

 

[jeeteshssaxena]

Ashwin is at the same level as Shaun Pollock

 

[Zaz]

Ashwin is at the same level as Shaun Pollock

Yes daniel vettori n shaun pollock level

A very good lower order batsman whos 25 runs are very useful to team india

 

[jeeteshssaxena]

Yes daniel vettori n shaun pollock level

A very good lower order batsman whos 25 runs are very useful to team india

As an overall cricketer Shaun Pollock and Ashwin are quite similar.
Vettori is nowhere near their level but yeah batting wise they are quite similar.

 

[King_Kohli]

Most Man of the series in Tests

11 Murali
9 Kallis
8 Imran
8 Warne
8 Hadlee
8 Ashwin*

 

[King_Kohli]

Most Player of the Series Awards in Tests

11 Muttiah Muralitharan
9 Jacques Kallis
8 R ASHWIN
8 Imran Khan
8 Richard Hadlee
8 Shane Warne

 

[Ab Fan]

ATG cricketers count by India:-

1.Sunil Gavaskar ( 1971)
2.Kapil Dev (1978)
3.Sachin Tendulkar ( 1989)
4.Rahul Dravid (1996)
5.Ravichandran Ashwin ( 2010)
6.Virat Kohli (2011)

 

[King_Kohli]

Indians with most Test M.O.S Award

8 - Ravichandran Ashwin*
5 - Sachin Tendulkar
5 - Virender Sehwag

 

[Extra_Cover]

Ashwin is a case where stats do not show the full picture. I'm not saying Ashwin is not a successful test cricketer but ATG?! I seriously do not think Ashwin is an ATG cricketer. If Ashwin meets the definition of ATG then surely Pollock, Mathews, Vettori even Shakib would be borderline which means ATG tags are passed around pretty cheaply.

An ATG player should be one who can make an ATG team. None of the players mentioned above would make it into ATG team.

 

[Bilal7]

A player that has been mediocre in Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa. A spinner that was never tested against Pakistan.

Nowhere close to being an ATG. You don't have these many holes in your resume and still get to be one of the all-time greats. He has time so this can change in the future. The upcoming six test matches in England should be a good starting point.

 

[MenInG]

Only Five cricketers have achieved the double of 30 plus wickets and a Century in a series. Ashwin is the only one to do it in a 4 Test series.