In-form off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is in line to take maximum wickets in a calendar year for second successive year. Ashwin has been in red-hot form in the Tests and will look tp torment Alastair Cook-led England in the five Tests, starting November 9.
Ravichandran Ashwin was always criticised for failing to perform in overseas condition but his all-round performance in the West Indies has silenced of the critics for the time being. With every passing match, he is growing from strength to strength.
Ashwin was the leading wicket-taker in the recently concluded Test series against New Zealand and will be fancying his chances to win some more accolades in the upcoming series.
Leading the charts in the current ICC Test Rankings for bowlers, Ashwin has also grabbed the most scalps this year in Tests so far. With 44 wickets to his name in only seven Tests, he is leading England’s Stuart Broad by four wickets, who has 40 dismissals to his name in 10 Tests. Chris Woakes (38), Rangana Herath (37) and James Anderson (37) complete the top of the list. With three English bowlers in the top five, it seems like a close race for the highest-wicket taker of the year. However, Ashwin will fancy his chances of winning the race plainly because of home advantage. Moreover, the way England batsmen struggled in their recently-concluded Test series against Bangladesh, they’ll have to play out of their skin to counter the huge threat posed by the Indian off-spinner.
Here is the list of top-10 highest wicket-takers of this year:
| Bowlers | Matches | Wickets | 5WI | 10WM |
| Ravichandran Ashwin (IND) | 7 | 44 | 5 | 2 |
| Stuart Broad (ENG) | 11 | 40 | 1 | 0 |
| Chris Woakes (ENG) | 9 | 38 | 2 | 1 |
| Rangana Herath (SL) | 7 | 37 | 3 | 1 |
| James Anderson (ENG) | 9 | 37 | 3 | 1 |
| Yasir Shah (PAK) | 7 | 37 | 4 | 2 |
| Neil Wagner (NZ) | 7 | 32 | 3 | 0 |
| Nathan Lyon (AUS) | 6 | 29 | 0 | 0 |
| Kagiso Rabada (SA) | 5 | 27 | 3 | 1 |
| Moeen Ali (ENG) | 12 | 27 | 1 | 0 |
What has made Ashwin an invaluable asset to this new-looking Virat Kohli-led Indian team is his ability to score big lower down the order. During the West Indies tour, he scored two centuries to prove his credentials with the willow and is deservingly sitting at the top in the ICC rankings for the all-rounders too. While Ben Stokes is leading the race for most runs by an all-rounder this year, Ashwin is way ahead when it comes to wickets tally.
Here is the list of top-5 of all-rounders of this year:
| Player | Mts | Runs | Bat Avg | 100s | Wkts | Bowl Avg | 5WI |
| Ben Stokes (ENG) | 7 | 559 | 50.81 | 1 | 25 | 19.8 | 1 |
| R Ashwin (IND) | 7 | 306 | 43.71 | 2 | 44 | 19.86 | 0 |
| Chris Woakes (ENG) | 9 | 423 | 38.45 | 0 | 38 | 21 | 2 |
| Rangana Herath (SL) | 7 | 235 | 21.36 | 0 | 37 | 19.08 | 5 |
| Moeen Ali (ENG) | 12 | 697 | 49.78 | 2 | 27 | 48.62 | 3 |
In the last two Test series, Ashwin bagged the Man of the Series award and the Indian team will be hoping that their talismanic spinner continues his brilliant form as they look to consolidate their position at the top of the ICC Test Rankings.