World No. 1 Test bowler Ravichandran Ashwin equalled legendary Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan’s record of most Player of the Series award in Test cricket’s history on Tuesday (October 1) by winning his 11th top prize. Ashwin was named as the best player of the two-match Test series played between India and Bangladesh. The 38-year-old spinner scored 114 runs in two innings of two Tests and dismissed a total of 11 batters in four innings.
He remained wicketless in the first innings of the Chennai Test but got rid of six Bangladeshi batters for 88 runs in the second innings. In the second Test played at Green Park in Kanpur, Ashwin picked up two wickets in the first inning and three in the second.
Muralitharan featured in a total of 61 series for Sri Lanka during his 18-year-long career and won the Player of the Series award on 11 occasions. On the other hand, Ashwin, who made his Test debut in 2011, has only played in 42 series so far.
Most Player of the Series awards in Tests
- Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka) – 11
- Ravichandran Ashwin (India) – 11
- Jacques Kallis (South Africa) – 9
- Imran Khan (Pakistan) – 8
- Richard Hadlee (New Zealand) – 8
- Shane Warne (Australia) – 8
Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag are second in the list of India players with most Player of the Series awards in Tests. They both were picked for the top prize on five occasions. Virat Kohli has three Player of the Series awards to his name in Tests, whereas Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, and Rahul Dravid finished their careers with four Player of the Series awards each.
In the Test series between India and Bangladesh, apart from Ashwin, star Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah also accounted for the dismissal of 11 batters, but due to his batting contribution as well, Ashwin was preferred over him for the big prize.
Ashwin came out to bat at No. 8 for India in the first innings of the first Test and scored 113 runs from 133 balls. He added 199 runs for the seventh wicket with Ravindra Jadeja to help India bounce back from 144 for 6 and post a total of 376 runs.
During the two-match Test series, Ashwin also broke multiple bowling records in addition to becoming only the second cricketer in the world to score 1000 runs and dismiss 100 batters in the WTC.
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