It turns out that even if you’ve swept up 499 Test wickets, you can’t choose when to ratchet in your milestone moment. Chief cricketing engineer Ravichandran Ashwin’s 500th didn’t come during a period of glorious Indian dominance. It wasn’t a breathtaking ball. Nor did it win the day, or even the session. Instead, it was a small sign of relief during an afternoon of whoopee led by Ben Duckett, who had already knocked up 55 in the first 11 overs of England’s reply before Ashwin started bowling, and went on to steal the headlines with a breathtaking hundred soon afterwards.
Just a few hours later the BCCI announced Ashwin had withdrawn from the Test because of a family emergency.
