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India's veteran all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin was India's star performer in the two-match Test series against Bangladesh which the hosts clean sweep 2-0. He smashed a century and picked up a six-fer in the first match that was held in Chennai. Then, he again played a crucial role with the ball in the second Test in Kanpur as well. He was the joint-leading wicket-taker in the series with 11 scalps in front of this name. He was awarded with Player of the Series award for his astonishing performance across the two games which also helped him equal a historic record of Sri Lanka legend Muttiah Muralitharan.
Ashwin equals Muralitharan's record
This was Ashwin's 11th Player of the Series award in Test cricket and he is now the joint-highest on this list. The only other person to win 11 POTS awards in International red-ball cricket history is the legendary spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan. Both of them have 11 Player of the Series awards each. The next person in the tally is someone who is hailed as the greatest cricket all-rounder Jacques Kallis, he has won a total of 8 Player of the Series awards.
Most Player of the Series awards in Tests
Muttiah Muralitharan - 11
Ravichandran Ashwin - 11
Jacques Kallis - 9
Sir Richard Hadlee - 8
Imran Khan - 8
Shane Warne - 8
Ashwin on team's performance in Kanpur Test
"Really glad I'm able to turn up performances for the team's victory. Winning this game was important for us. Lot of bowlers contributed really well for us today. Massive win for us in the context of the WTC. When we bowled them out yesterday, it was little after lunch. Rohit was keen that we needed 80 overs to bowl at them. And the moment he came inside out and gave that talk where we're going to go after it even if we get out under 230. It's not only him saying it, he went out there and hit his first ball for six. He set the tone that way and obviously follows on from there," said Ashwin in the post-match presentation.
"The kind of bowling attack I'm part of, incredibly proud of it. How Jassi bowls, how Siraj turns in, how Akash turned up, ad don't have to mention much about Jaddu. With the new ball, you get more bite out of the surface. It is slow. The more you put overspin, it's going to be harder because the ball doesn't leave the surface so you must be able to change the pace up. We've played enough on these surfaces around the country where the soil is similar. So we expect a team with such experience to make those adjustments," he added.
