Sachin Tendulkar to Ravichandran Ashwin: Full list of Indian cricketers who have played 100 Tests

Veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Thursday, March 7, became the 14th player from India to feature in 100 or more Tests. He achieved the feat when he stepped onto the field on Day 1 of the fifth Test against England at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala.

Ashwin, who made his Test debut against West Indies in November 2011, is regarded as one of the finest red-ball spinners of the modern generation, especially in sub-continent conditions.

Heading into the Dharamsala Test, he had claimed 507 wickets at an average of 23.91, with 35 five-fers and eight 10-wicket match hauls. Ashwin has also scored 3,309 runs with five hundreds and 14 fifties.

On the list of India’s leading wicket-takers in Test cricket, only former captain Anil Kumble has taken more wickets than Ashwin. The former India leg-spinner ended his career with 619 wickets from 132 Tests.

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Indian players part of 100-Test club

Among Indian cricketers with 100 or more Tests to their credit, the legendary Sachin Tendulkar heads the illustrious list.

He played 200 Tests, amassing 15,921 runs at an average of 53.78, with 51 tons. Tendulkar is followed by current Team India head coach Rahul Dravid, who played 164 Tests and notched up 13,288 runs at an average of 52.31, with 36 hundreds.

VVS Laxman is third on the list. He played 134 Tests and scored 8,781 runs at an average of 45.97, hitting 17 hundreds. He's followed by another stalwart, Kumble, who's India’s leading wicket-taker in India. The former leg-spinner claimed 619 scalps in 132 Tests, averaging 29.65 with 35 five-fers.

Two more former India captains, Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev, also feature on the famed list. While Gavaskar played 125 Tests and scored 10,122 runs, Kapil claimed 434 wickets in 131 games. At one point in their illustrious careers, the two held the record for most runs and most wickets, respectively, in Tests.

Dilip Vengsarkar (116), Sourav Ganguly (113), Virat Kohli (113), Ishant Sharma (105), Virender Sehwag (104), Harbhajan Singh (103) and Cheteshwar Pujara (103) are the only other Indian cricketers to have featured in at least 100 Tests.

Former India captain Mohammed Azharuddin was stranded on 99 Tests as his career ended at the peak of the 2000 match-fixing controversy. Among other prominent names, Zaheer Khan played 92 Tests, Gundappa Viswanath 91 and MS Dhoni 90.