Ravichandran Ashwin’s phenomenal career has concluded, leaving him as one of the greatest match-winners in Indian cricket history.
The Indian off-spinner, who announced his retirement from international cricket in December 2024, concluded his remarkable career with 537 Test wickets in 106 matches, placing him as India’s second-highest wicket-taker in the format. He had a brilliant 2021, where he was the leading wicket-taker in Tests by picking up 54 wickets in the calendar year. He recorded 50+ Test wickets four times in his illustrious career.
The year-by-year stats of the Chennai-based spinner reveal a career defined by relentless hunger for wickets and continuous evolution. At the time of his retirement, he finished seventh on the all-time list of leading Test wicket-takers, cementing his place amongst the legends of the game.
This article will pick out stats that help you analyse Ashwin’s Test bowling performances in different bowling conditions—home and away, Asian and non-Asian conditions, and finally, his bowling performances in every country.
Without much waffle, let’s get into the numbers right away.
Ashwin Test Stats – Home and Away
Every bowler who has played their childhood and domestic games in the home country will know the conditions well and gets an extra push whenever they bowl in those conditions. Ashwin is no different from that. He knows the Indian conditions better than most of the Indian bowlers himself, which makes him a menace to the opposition batsmen.
| VENUE | TESTS | INNINGS | WICKETS | 5-FORS | BEST BOWLING | AVERAGE | STRIKE RATE | ECONOMY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home | 65 | 127 | 383 | 29 | 7/59 | 21.57 | 46.0 | 2.81 |
| Away | 40 | 71 | 150 | 8 | 7/71 | 30.55 | 63.1 | 2.90 |
| Neutral | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2/17 | 11.25 | 37.5 | 1.80 |
| TOTAL | 106 | 200 | 537 | 37 | 7/59 | 24.00 | 50.7 | 2.83 |
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Key Stats – Ashwin’s Home and Away Test Bowling Numbers
Ashwin became the 6th overall and 2nd Indian bowler to pick 300 wickets in home Tests. Check the top 10 bowlers to rank the chart here.
Now retired, the 35-year-old closed his career as one of the greatest home bowlers of all time. Had he stayed fit for three more years, he could have ended up next only to Muttiah Muralitharan’s mighty 493 Test wickets in Sri Lankan venues.
His clean-sweep against Australia in the 2014 Border-Gavaskar series remains one of the rarest achievements in the game of cricket.
Away from home, Ashwin finished with an average of around 31. That figure stands on par with other top bowlers of his generation like Stuart Broad, Yasir Shah, James Anderson, and Nathan Lyon.
It is unfair to compare bowling averages across eras, as scoring rates and playing conditions have changed drastically. What makes Ashwin’s record even more respectable is that most of his away Tests came in the challenging conditions of Australia and England.
By contrast, for a yesteryear bowler like Muttiah Muralitharan, a spinner from an Asian country, his top two away venues were India and Pakistan.
Ashwin was also a part of the World Test Championship final, his only neutral venue game, in which he picked 2 wickets per innings.
Fastest to Every 100X Test Wickets
Ashwin’s Country-wise Test Stats
| COUNTRIES | TESTS | INNINGS | WICKETS | 5-FORS | BEST BOWLING | AVERAGE | STRIKE RATE | ECONOMY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| India | 65 | 127 | 383 | 29 | 7/59 | 21.57 | 46.0 | 2.81 |
| Australia | 11 | 19 | 40 | 0 | 4/55 | 42.42 | 86.8 | 2.93 |
| Sri Lanka | 6 | 12 | 38 | 3 | 6/46 | 21.57 | 41.1 | 3.14 |
| England | 7 | 11 | 18 | 0 | 4/62 | 28.11 | 66.7 | 2.52 |
| West Indies | 6 | 11 | 32 | 4 | 7/71 | 19.34 | 41.4 | 2.80 |
| South Africa | 7 | 13 | 11 | 0 | 4/113 | 49.63 | 110.0 | 2.70 |
| Bangladesh | 3 | 6 | 12 | 1 | 5/87 | 28.41 | 55.9 | 3.04 |
| New Zealand | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3/99 | 33.00 | 58.0 | 3.41 |
| TOTAL | 106 | 200 | 537 | 37 | 7/59 | 24.00 | 50.7 | 2.83 |
Key Stats on Ashwin’s Country-wise stats
Ravi Ashwin has bowled in 7 Test-playing nations away from home. His best two away countries are Australia (39 wickets) and Sri Lanka (38 wickets).
His best bowling performance away from home came in the West Indies, where he picked up 7-for-83 against the Jason Holder-led side at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua.
India defeated the home team by an innings and 92 runs, thanks to Ashwin’s all-round brilliance — a 7-wicket haul and a century in the only innings India batted. The Indian captain, Virat Kohli, also contributed with a double-century knock in that game — one of his 7 Test double tons.
Among the countries where Ashwin played at least 5 Tests, his average in Sri Lanka is the next best after India.
He also maintained a decent bowling average in England and the West Indies. But Australia and South Africa seemed to have tested him the most, with Ashwin averaging above 40 in those conditions.
Read in-depth about Australian and English conditions to understand what makes them different from each other!
Ashwin’s Test Bowling Stats – Asian and non-Asian conditions
Now, putting together his bowling performances in the spin-friendly Asian conditions and the non-Asian conditions, Ashwin has been a super-villain to the batters in the Asian countries.
| CONTINENT | TESTS | INNINGS | WICKETS | BEST BOWLING | 5-FORS | AVERAGE | STRIKE RATE | ECONOMY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asian | 74 | 145 | 433 | 7/59 | 33 | 21.76 | 45.8 | 2.84 |
| Non-Asian | 32 | 55 | 104 | 7/71 | 4 | 33.33 | 71.0 | 2.61 |
| TOTAL | 106 | 200 | 537 | 7/59 | 37 | 24.00 | 50.7 | 2.83 |
The carom-ball specialist has played more than two-thirds of his total Tests in Asian conditions, and so are his wicket count and 5-wicket hauls. Also, Only one of his top 20 bowling performances in the longer format has come outside Asia.
The difference in the average of Ashwin’s Asian and non-Asian performance is around 14, which is relatively poor compared to Muralitharan’s 4.4.
For someone to play the game for a long time, the non-Asian conditions are his weak zone.
The Bottomline
To wrap it up, it is easy to say that Ashwin is a beast in home conditions.
Although his overseas numbers may look poor, it is unfair to judge a bowler’s value by mere statistics.
In foreign conditions, Ashwin has often played a supportive role to the fast bowlers, rather than being the go-to option. Spinners are mainly used to provide the pacers with much-needed rest as the pitches are usually pacer-friendly.
Beyond his bowling, Ashwin has been a handy all-rounder, stepping up in tougher scenarios that demanded runs from the lower order.
With all this, one can easily say that Ashwin has been one of India’s biggest assets in Test cricket, wherever the team has played.
Check: Ashwin’s Most Dismissed Test Batters
