In Graphics | R Ashwin's stupendous rise to 500 Test wickets

Ravichandran Ashwin joined an exclusive list on Friday which only had eight members before the Indian spinner’s entry. Ashwin is the fifth spinner and ninth bowler overall to get to 500 Test wickets and he reached to landmark with the wicket of Zak Crawley on Day 2 of the third India and England Test at Rajkot.

Ashwin also became only the third off-spinner to achieve the feat and continues to be the second highest wicket-taker for India behind Kumble, who ended his career with 619 scalps.

The only other off-spinners who have touched the 500 wickets mark are retired Sri Lanka great Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and Australia’s Nathan Lyon (517), who did it last year. Ashwin scaled to the landmark in his 98th Test, which is second-fastest in terms of matches played. He is only behind Muralitharan (87).

Having made his Test debut in 2011, Ashwin has come a long way. The engineering graduate from Chennai started out as a top-order batter and tried his hand at medium pace bowling before settling for the role of an off-spinner, a decision that was forced by a back injury during his teenage years. Following the Kumble and Harbhajan Singh era, Ashwin had big shoes to fill and he has done that with remarkable consistency. In his first 16 Tests, Ashwin snared nine five-wicket hauls and became the fastest to the 300 wickets club. Ashwin has also proved his worth in the shorter formats, having played 116 ODIS for his 156 wickets in the format. He has 72 wickets in 65 T20 International appearances.