Ravichandran Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin (pronunciation^ⓘ) (born 17 September 1986) is an Indian international cricketer. He is a right-arm off spin bowler and 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).

Ashwin has taken more than 495 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 most. 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 450 wickets in tests. As of February 2024, Ashwin is the second highest-ranked bowler in the ICC men's player rankings and the highest rated Indian bowler ever in tests.

Ashwin started as an opening batsman but dropped down the order due to limited success and turned into an off-break bowler. He made his first-class debut for Tamil Nadu in December 2006 and captained the team the following season. He played for 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. In the 2015–16 season, Ashwin took 48 wickets and scored 336 runs in eight tests along with 27 wickets in 19 T20Is enabling him to win the ICC Cricketer of the Year and ICC Men's Test Cricketer of the Year awards for 2016. He has been named five times to the ICC Men's Test Team of the Year and was named in the ICC Men's Test Team of the Decade 2011–20. In 2015, he was awarded Arjuna award by Government of India.