Ashwin took a five-wicket haul in England’s first innings, then scored 106 in India’s second innings. He then took three wickets in England’s second outing at The Chepauk. The 34-year-old was left with eight wickets in the match, thus missing the ten-wicket mark by two scalps.
Only three cricketers have achieved the enviable feat of scoring a century and taking ten wickets in a Test match. Both Ian Botham of England and Imran Khan of Pakistan have incidentally achieved their respective feats against India. Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan was the last player to do so, against Zimbabwe at Khulna in 2014.
Botham scored 114 and registered figures of 6/58 & 7/48 as England beat India by 10 wickets in Mumbai in 1980. Khan scored 117 then returned with figures of 6/98 & 5/82 in Faisalabad in 1983, which also ended with India losing by 10 wickets. Shakib scored 137 & 6 and took 5/80 & 5/44 against Zimbabwe.
But Aussie Alan Davidson was the first cricketer to score an aggregate of 100 runs and take 10 wickets in a Test match (44 & 80, 5/135 & 6/87), against West Indies in Brisbane in 1960.
