5 Test records Ravichandran Ashwin can break in the home leg

Most wickets in a Test series by an Indian bowler

Can Ashwin break a record that has stood for more than four decades?

The all-time record for most wickets in a series by a bowler in Tests stands at 49. Sydney Barnes holds the all-time record after his impressive performance against South Africa more than a century ago where he picked up 49 wickets in just four Tests. Given Tests no longer last longer than 5 matches and the last bowler to have taken more than 40 wickets in a series did so in 6 Tests, it is fair to say that record is safe for a very long time.

However, the record for the most wickets in a Test series by an Indian bowler is not as difficult to overtake as the world record. With 35 wickets in five Tests against England in the 1972/73 series in India, Bhagwath Chandrasekhar holds the Indian record and it is one that might be in doubt in the series against England later this year.

Having taken 31 wickets in the last home Test series against South Africa, which consisted of only four Tests with one being washed out thanks to rain, Ashwin will certainly fancy his chances of going one better this time around. And it remains to be seen if breaks a record that has stood for more than four decades.