On top of his game, Ashwin is No. 1 bowler & all-rounder

Indore, The other day, Ravichandran Ashwin was asked if he was the all-rounder India have been seeking for years. Ashwin, who possesses a sharp wit and a sharper tongue, grinned and said: “From the day I made my debut, I have been an all-rounder… You people are noticing it only now!”
Ashwin’s batting abilities are not newly-acquired, it’s true. His ability with the bat was on display early enough — playing only his third Test innings, he’d made 103 off 118 balls. True, it was only West Indies, Test cricket’s minnows, whose bowlers he flogged; but he actually top-scored for India in that innings in a team that included Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni. He also picked up nine wickets in the game. In the second innings, as India chased 243 for a win, he was again in the thick of things. He was the ninth man out as the match ended with the scores of the two teams even.
Ashwin has scored three more centuries, all against West Indies, one in India and two in the West Indies. He’s the world’s No. 1 ranked all-rounder right now, with 451 points. No. 2 Shakib al Hasan of Bangladesh is 67 points behind him, while Ravindra Jadeja is No. 3 with 292 points.
No. 1 again
It’s remarkable that Ashwin tops two ICC rankings tables. With 27 wickets in the Test series, he has taken back his No. 1 ranking as a Test bowler from South Africa’s Dale Steyn. The failure of New Zealand captain Kane Williamson in the four innings he played — he missed the Kolkata Test due to a viral fever — was a big factor behind New Zealand’s 3-0 rout. And Ashwin was a big factor behind Williamson’s failure. He got Williamson — who has dropped down two places to No. 5 in the ICC ranking of Test batsmen — four times in four innings, twice bowled and twice LBW. Williamson is an instinctively attacking player and he was outfoxed by Ashwin in attack, scoring a below-par 135 runs in total.
When asked if he’d got a mental block against Ashwin, he heaped praise on the all-rounder. “I don’t think it is a mental block,” he said. “It’s more the quality of his bowling in these conditions. The wickets that he has got, he has shown his class, and certainly deserved to be Man of the Series.” Williamson was crestfallen, and Ashwin was elated. “I feel really good about myself, and my confidence is sky high,” he said after the win.
India play 10 more Tests at home this season. Ashwin’s form and confidence, as bowler and all-rounder, are a warning to England, Bangladesh and Australia, India’s next adversaries in Tests.
Super numbers
27Number of wickets Ashwin picked in the series, just three short of half the number of Kiwi wickets to fall (60) in the series.
2 The 27-wicket haul is second best behind Harbhajan Singh’s 32 wickets against Australia (2001) in a three-match series
2 Ashwin picked up two ten-wicket hauls in the series, becoming second Indian after Harbhajan to achieve the feat.
7 He was adjudged Man of the Series, taking the overall count of the award to seven, the most by any Indian.