R Ashwin has taken 219 Test wickets in 39 matches at an average of 24.29 and has 21 five-wicket hauls and six 10-wicket hauls.
TESTS
39
INNINGS 72
BALLS 10889
RUNS 5344
WKTS 220
BBI 7/59
BBM 13/140
AVG 24.29
ECON 2.94
S/R 49.4
4W 7
5W 21
10W 6
Harbhajan Singh took 57 Tests and 9 years for his 19th five-wicket haul while Kumble took 67 Tests and 12 years. Of the two highest wicket-takers in Test history, Muralitharan got there in 52 Tests and 7 years while Warne took 92 Tests and 9 years.
For spinners with more than 150 Test wickets, Ashwin’s strike-rate is by far the best, meaning he gets his captain wickets at a faster rate than any other tweaker in history. Stuart MacGill is second-best with 54 with Muralitharan and Warne taking wickets per 55 and 57.1 balls respectively.
Since pitches started being officially covered for Tests in 1979, Ashwin is the quickest to five 10-wicket match hauls”third fastest in the 139-year history of the sport. Harbhajan and Kumble for the record got there in their 68th and 81st Tests respectively.
In 9 Tests outside the subcontinent”excluding the West Indies where pitches aren’t too dissimilar to the ones in Asia these days”Ashwin has 24 wickets at 56.58. At this stage in their careers, Kumble had 28 wickets at 38.32 while Harbhajan’s record read 24 wickets at 44.79.
Ashwin’s the first spinner to snare 10 five-wicket hauls when he’s opened the bowling in Tests. The last seven of them have come during this purple patch. Colin Blythe, who played his last Test in 1910, is the only other spinner to take four 10-wicket match hauls after sharing the new-ball. Only Hugh Trumble with 93 and Bobby Peel with 88 have taken more wickets overall.
Least number of balls to reach 200 wickets
R Ashwin “ 10407 balls
Stuart MacGill “ 10511 balls
Graeme Swann “ 12259 balls
Nathan Lyon “ 12419 balls
Shane Warne “ 12470 balls
For India
Harbhajan Singh “ 12640 balls
Anil Kumble “ 14300 balls
R Ashwin: 203 wickets at 25.06 with 19 five-wicket hauls and five 10-wicket hauls
Harbhajan Singh: 162 wickets at 27.91 with 13 five-wicket hauls and three 10-wicket hauls
Anil Kumble: 162 wickets at 27.42 with 9 five-wicket hauls and one 10-wicket haul
Muttiah Muralitharan: 160 wickets at 29.44 with 11 five-wicket hauls and one 10-wicket haul
Shane Warne: 170 wickets at 24.10 with 9 five-wicket hauls and 2 10-wicket hauls
(*The above stats are updated after 37 Tests)
