R Ashwin
Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin on Monday surpassed West Indies legend Gary Sobers in the all-time list following his elusive all-around double at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai against England.
On a tricky Chennai track, Ashwin showed the visitors how to bowl as he picked up his record 29th five-wicket haul that tied him with Glenn McGrath for the seventh spot overall and made him the first bowler to dismiss 200 left-handers. A day later, he showed the visitors how to bat as he notched up his fifth Test century and first against England, off 134 balls to stretch India's lead well past 450.
With the elusive double he became only the second cricketer after English legend Ian Botham to score a century and take a five-wicket haul three or more times in a match. He surpassed Sobers, Mushtaq Mohammad, Jacques Kallis, and Shakib-Al-Hasan all of whom have two such doubles in their career.
Ashwin had previously achieved this feat in 2011 against West Indies where he scored 103 in the first innings and picked nine wickets in the Test in Mumbai. Two years later he emulated the feat against the same side in Kolkata scoring 124 in the first innings and picking five wickets. West Indies witnessed his brilliance once again, in North Sound in 2016, when he scored 113 and picked up seven wickets.
Ashwin now has 2624 runs in 76 Tests and 391 wickets. Only Kapil Dev has scored more hundreds and taken more wickets than Ashwin.
