While Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jasprit Bumrah garnered accolades for their starring roles in India's seven-wicket bamboozling of Bangladesh in the second Test, Ravichandran Ashwin quietly delivered another crucial performance to leave his indelible mark on the series. (Report | Scorecard | More Cricket News)
With his five wickets in the Kanpur game, Ashwin aggregated 11 wickets in the two-match series. Add to that his 141 runs across three innings, and the all-rounder was undoubtedly the standout and hence aptly awarded the Player of the Series.
This was the 11th time Ashwin earned the Player of the Series honour, putting him level with all-time great Muttiah Muralitharan as the cricketers to have bagged the award most number of times. Ashwin and Muralitharan are ahead of legendary all-rounders Jacques Kallis (9), Sir Richard Hadlee (8) and Imran Khan (8), apart from another spin wizard, the late Shane Warne (8).
The illustrious company Ashwin finds himself in is purely a result of his game-changing bowling spells and vital knocks over the years, rendering the 38-year-old as invaluable to the Indian Test setup despite his advancing age.
Upon being named the Player of the Series, Ashwin said, "Winning this game was important for us. Massive win for us in the context of the World Test Championship.
"When we bowled them out yesterday, it was a little after lunch. Rohit was keen that we needed 80 overs to bowl at them. He said even if we get bowled out for 230, it's okay. And he set the tone with the way he stepped out first ball."
The Chennai off-spinner added: "You get more bite with the new ball than the old ball. The more you put overspin, it's harder on this pitch because the ball doesn't leave the surface. I'm happy to settle into the rhythm. The revs I put on the ball cannot be underestimated."
