India’s premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin missing out on a berth in their Playing XI in the ongoing ICC World Test Championship 2021-2023 final raised quite a many eyebrows soon after the toss. The manner in which the Kennington Oval pitch behaved as the Australian innings progressed added to the intensity of the voices speaking in favour of the 36-year-old.
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Ravindra Jadeja, India’s solitary spinner for this match, managed to extract decent bounce and turn as early as the second session on Day 1. The help in offer for a spinner, left-handed batter Travis Head scoring a century, and the Aussie side comprising as many as five southpaw batters, questions are bound to get raised on team management’s decision to bench Ashwin for the sixth time in a row in a Test in England.
While former Australia captain Ricky Ponting reckoned the dryness underneath the pitch would have definitely brought the Tamil Nadu spinner into the picture, legendary Sachin Tendulkar reckoned that players of his caliber have it in them to take even the pitch conditions out of the equation.
On that note, let’s take a look at Ashwin’s numbers in home and away Test matches.
R Ashwin Test Wickets Home And Away
Ashwin’s stellar home record in Tests makes him arguably the best spinner in modern-day cricket. Across 55 Tests in India, Ashwin has scalped 337 wickets at an average and strike rate of 20.87 and 46.6 respectively.
On the other hand, the star off-spinner has only bowled in 36 away Tests and has managed to strike 133 wickets. The average and strike rate of 32.06 and 65.4 respectively across these matches strike a noticeable contrast to his home record.
| Span | Matches | Innings | Wickets | Average | Strike Rate | 5w | 10w | |
| Home Tests | 2011-2023 | 55 | 107 | 337 | 20.87 | 46.6 | 26 | 6 |
| Away Tests | 2011-2022 | 36 | 65 | 133 | 32.06 | 65.4 | 6 | 1 |
Solely on the basis of numbers, Ashwin is a much better bowler than the likes of former champion Indian spinners namely Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble. Taking only the away Tests into consideration, he has a much better strike rate than Harbhajan’s (76.2 across 87 innings) and Kumble’s (74.5 across 121 innings).
How Is R Ashwin’s Test Record in England?
Ashwin has played a mere seven Test matches in England so far since 2014. Having bowled across 11 innings, he has scalped 18 wickets at an average and strike rate of 28.11 and 66.7 respectively.
| Span | Matches | Innings | Wickets | Average | Strike Rate | 5w | 10w | |
| Tests in England | 2014-2021 | 7 | 11 | 18 | 28.11 | 66.7 | 0 | 0 |
Again for the sake of comparison, his strike rate in England is much better than Harbhajan (88 across nine innings) and Kumble (87.4 across 19 innings).
The last Test which Ashwin played in England was the World Test Championship final in 2021. He was not selected during the entire five-match series in 2021 and 2022.
While it has almost always been the conditions in the country or the need to have a balanced squad which has went against Ashwin, it is indeed a decision which the management has taken after some serious deliberation this time around.
For context, he is India’s leading wicket-taker in the second WTC cycle (2021-23) with 61 wickets across 26 innings at an exceptional average of 19.67. The second name in the list is Jasprit Bumrah with 45 wickets across 19 innings.
