Ravi Shastri, Sunil Gavaskar pour their hearts out as BCCI celebrates Ashwin beyond ‘life and cricket’ on his 100th Test

Ace-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is all set to join the elite list of players to play the 100th Test for India. The off-spinner has already been labelled as one of the greats to play red-ball cricket in India with over 500 Test wickets in his kitty.

The 37-year-old played a pivotal part in India’s domination in Test cricket in the past decade at home. India have not lost a Test series in a over decade at home as the last time they suffered a defeat was in 2012 against England and since then Ashwin has emerged as India’s biggest match-winner in the red-ball format.

Ahead of Ashwin’s landmark Test match in Dharmsala, the BCCI posted a video talking about his journey and playing the 100th Test. In the same video, legendary India cricketers Anil Kumble, Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri poured their heart out and gave tribute to Ashwin for his incredible journey thus far.

Shastri, who worked closely with Ashwin during his tenure as India’s head coach, hailed the 37-year-old for his achievements and suggested very early Ashwin indicated that he would be the next big thing.

“It’s not often, you can say that about spinners but you knew very clearly, he would be the next,” Shastri said.

Ashwin the ‘astronaut’ keeps getting better

The former head coach called Ashwin – the astronaut and asserted that he was just getting better with the time.

“The astronaut that he is and the wavelengths he gets onto, comes naturally to him and you can see the skill factors just getting better and better.”

Batting great Gavaskar also talked about Ashwin’s successful journey thus far and said,” Why do you play? What is the ambition? The ambition should be to play successfully for your country.”

Meanwhile, Kumble, who is the only Indian who has picked more Test wickets than Ashwin, pointed out the ups and downs he went through in his career and won several matches for the team.

“The challenges are very extreme, it’s not necessarily the skill challenges, but more in the mind and that says, a lot about someone who’s been through that journey taken those ups and downs in his stride and won so many matches and it’s a fantastic effort,” Kumble said in the video posted by BCCI.