Spin-nerd Ravichandran Ashwin’s 25,714 calculated steps to reach Mt 500 | Cricket News
A content smile spread on Ravichandran Ashwin’s face, when he grabbed his 500th Test scalp and waved the ball towards the audience on the stands. The smile captured both the sheer joy and satisfaction that seized Ashwin when he reached a significant milestone of a spectacular career. He is now the ninth highest wicket-taker in Tests and the fifth highest among the spinners. Filter the achievement further and he is India’s second-most successful bowler ever. Anil Kumble with 619 wickets sits at the top of the pile. A more illuminating number in Ashwins’s career is 25714, the number of balls he has bowled to complete his 500th. Only the Australian Glenn McGrath has brought wickets at a faster clip. The more you dissect his numbers, the more head-spinning an experience it would be, and the more convinced you would be of his place among the all-time greats of the game. But beyond all these—the wickets, the numbers, the match-winning spells, the five-fors and 10-wicket hauls, the glory balls—there was something far deeper about his art …