"Ravichandran Ashwin's impact has been close to that of Kapil Dev" - Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir believes Ravichandran Ashwin's impact as an all-rounder for Team India is comparable to that of Kapil Dev.

Ashwin scored 61 runs in India's first innings of the first Test against Sri Lanka and followed it up with a match haul of six wickets. The off-spinner also surpassed Kapil Dev's tally of 434 Test wickets in the process.

During a discussion on Star Sports, Gautam Gambhir was asked if Ashwin has been second only to Kapil Dev in the all-round department for Team India. He responded:

"Probably not second. I think parallel to Kapil Dev because of the sort of impact Ravichandran Ashwin has had. Ravichandran Ashwin's impact has been close to that of Kapil Dev."

The former India cricketer highlighted that Ashwin has made substantial contributions with the bat as well. Gambhir observed:

"He has scored five Test hundreds although I don't want to go with stats, they can be very very misleading."

Ashwin has amassed 2905 runs at an average of 27.14 in the 85 Tests he has played for Team India to date. Kapil Dev scored 5248 runs at a slightly better average of 31.05 in the 131 Tests he played, including eight centuries.

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"Ravichandran Ashwin's spell in Melbourne is the best spell I have seen in my entire career" - Gautam Gambhir

Ravichandran Ashwin bamboozled the Australian batters in the 2020 Boxing Day Test

Gautam Gambhir was particularly appreciative of Ashwin's spell in the Melbourne Test of India's last tour of Australia. He said:

"Ravichandran Ashwin's spell in Melbourne, I have said this openly and I will say it again - that is the best spell I have seen in my entire career by an off-spinner across decades, across generations. It was a spell on the first day when he got Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne and Matthew Wade out."

The cricketer-turned-commentator added that the spell came on the first day of the Test and that too with the Kookaburra ball. Gambhir explained:

"The way Ashwin bowled on the first day, I don't think any other off-spinner has created such an impact in Australian conditions and that too with the Kookaburra ball. If you ask any finger spinner, they would have hated playing with the Kookaburra ball because neither does it have that seam nor does it get that much bounce."

Ajinkya Rahane introduced Ashwin into the attack in the 11th over of the aforementioned Test match. The wily off-spinner dismissed a well-set Matthew Wade in his second over and then Steven Smith for a duck to give Team India the early ascendancy. They eventually went on to win the match by eight wickets.