TRENDING: ASH-TAG 500

“Accidental spinner”, who made his debut at 25, reaches yet another milestone in what has been a stellar career

- GOMESH S 

AS R Ashwin walked towards the bowling crease from mid-off after 11 overs of the England innings on Friday, the scoreboard read 71/0. After dismissing India for 445, England openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley - had gotten off to a flying start, and Rohit turned towards the most reliable and experienced craftsman in his team.

India needed a wicket and Ashwin was one away from getting into the 500 club.

Everyone knew it was coming, and yet there was a sense of anticipation in the air as to when and how it was going to happen. In fact every single person who has watched him and followed his career would say they expected it to have happened by now. Even his teammate and partner-in-crime Ravindra Jadeja thought so. "I thought he would complete it in the first Test," Jadeja had said.

At the start of the series, Ashwin needed ten wickets to get to 500, and Jadeja wasn't alone in thinking what he did. After all, that is what the off-spinner's reputation was. 490 Test wickets in 95 matches, a tad above five wickets every match in a career that has spanned just over 13 years. Fastest to get to 250, 300, and 350, second fastest to get to 400 and 450, second most player of the series awards, the list just goes on. These numbers, as phenomenal as they are, don't do enough justice to what Ashwin has achieved.