If only things fell in place just the way one wanted to or desired or yearned for, then sports may seem can be so predictable, but that rarely happens. But then, when indeed it happens that way, imagine the resultant joy and amazement for the concerned sporting hero! And it happened just that way for Ravichandran Ashwin on that Saturday, soaking in that mild sunshine in Dharamshala as he celebrated his 100th Test appearance for India, the first man from Tamil Nadu to earn this distinction and just 14th in the country, with a five-wicket haul to send England crashing to defeat. In the process, the spin spearhead set up a whole lot of new records in the sport. This was the 36th time he had grabbed five wickets in an innings, one more than the current Indian record holder, Anil Kumble. Another interesting point was that he is now the first bowler to have picked up a fifer in both his debut and now the 100th Test!

Well, cricket is a game of statistics, so there may be more to come, but one thing that came clear and loud is that Ashwin has reached a peak of his own. No more would there be a talk on the effectiveness of this spinner or his abilities. If there is one thing he would share with his state senior and another stalwart spinner S Venkataraghavan is that both are engineering graduates, perhaps a........

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