Ravichandran Ashwin, one of India‘s premier off-spinners, turned 38 on September 17. The Indian team celebrated his birthday in the dressing room, covering the veteran spinner’s face with cake. Wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant and wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav posted snippets of the celebration on Instagram.
The entire squad came together to sing birthday wishes as Ashwin cut the chocolate cake. It appears that Pant was the first to smear cake on Ashwin’s face, as shown in his Instagram story. Ashwin and Pant have enjoyed a strong camaraderie since they began sharing the Indian team dressing room in 2018.
Wishes began flooding in from the cricketing world as former and current Indian cricketers, including Ashwin’s former teammates such as Suresh Raina, Badrinath, Cheteshwar Pujara, Shikhar Dhawan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Umesh Yadav, KL Rahul, and others, sent their birthday greetings. Renowned for his astute cricketing intellect and diverse skill set, Ashwin has been a crucial player for the Indian team for over a decade.
Rishabh Pant’s Instagram story
Ashwin made his Test debut in November 2011 against the West Indies and has since emerged as one of the world’s premier off-spinners. With over 700 international wickets, he holds an impressive Test cricket record.
He was the fastest Indian bowler to reach 100 Test wickets, achieving this milestone in just 18 matches. Having surpassed 500 Test wickets, Ashwin ranks among the top wicket-takers in the format, joining only eight other bowlers in the 500-wicket club, with Anil Kumble being another notable Indian bowler in this group with 619 wickets.
As Ashwin returns to international cricket after a long hiatus for the two-Test series against Bangladesh starting September 19 in Chennai, he is on the brink of several significant milestones. He is just 22 wickets shy of surpassing Anil Kumble’s record of 476 wickets taken in India, a feat that would make Ashwin the leading wicket-taker on Indian soil.
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