IND vs SL 2022: Ravichandran Ashwin’s impact has been close to that of Kapil Dev – Gautam Gambhir

Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir believes Ravichandran Ashwin’s impact has been close to Kapil Dev on Indian cricket. Ashwin leapfrogged Kapil Dev’s tally of 434 Test wickets against Sri Lanka in the first Test match at the IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali on Sunday.

The off-spinner took Charith Asalanka’s wicket, which was his 435 scalp in Test cricket. Furthermore, Ashwin also surpassed Sir Richard Hadlee and Rangana Herath’s tally of wickets.

On the other hand, Ashwin also scored a fine knock of 61 runs in the first innings and added 130 runs with Ravindra Jadeja to help his team post 574 runs on the board. Ashwin has taken 436 wickets and he is now the second-highest wicket-taker for India in Test cricket. Furthermore, Ashwin has amassed 2905 runs in 85 Test matches at an average of 27.15.

Meanwhile, Kapil Dev is regarded as one of the greatest all-rounders to have embraced the game. Dev scored 5248 runs in 131 Test matches at an average of 31.05 and also took 434 wickets at an average of 29.65.

Gautam Gambhir said while talking to Star Sports, “Probably not second. I think parallel to Kapil Dev because of the sort of impact Ravichandran Ashwin has had. Ravichandran Ashwin’s impact has been close to that of Kapil Dev.”

“He has scored five Test hundreds although I don’t want to go with stats, they can be very very misleading.”

Gambhir picked Ashwin’s spell in Melbourne as the best he has seen in his life. The off-spinner had accounted for Steve Smith, Marnus Labouschagne, and Matthew Wade in that fine spell.

“Ravichandran Ashwin’s spell in Melbourne, I have said this openly and I will say it again – that is the best spell I have seen in my entire career by an off-spinner across decades, across generations. It was a spell on the first day when he got Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, and Matthew Wade out.”

Ashwin picked a total of six wickets against Sri Lanka and he would look to continue the good show in the second Test match, which will be played in Bengaluru from March 12.