R Ashwin has joint-most Player of the Series awards in Tests© BCCI/Sportzpics
India's veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin produced an exemplary all-round show as the team secured a 2-0 series triumph against Bangladesh. After winning the first match by 280 runs, India defeated Bangladesh by 7 wickets in the second Test despite two and a half days of the Kanpur contest being washed out due to rain. Ashwin remained key to India's success against Bangla Tigers, both with the bat and the ball. He was, hence, named the Player of the Series. With the POTS honour, Ashwin went on to match a world record, held by Sri Lanka great Muttiah Muralitharan in Test cricket.
Ashwin and Muralitharan occupy the numero uno spot in the list of cricketers with the most Player of the Series awards in the longest format of the game. Ashwin (11) is now just one POTS award shy of making the No. 1 spot completely his own.
Most Player of the Series awards in Tests:
11 - Muttiah Muralitharan
11 - Ravichandran Ashwin
9 - Jacques Kallis
8 - Sir Richard Hadlee
8 - Imran Khan
8 - Shane Warne
After wining the award, Ashwin shed light on the importance of the Kanpur Test win, highlighting it was crucial that India sweep the series 2-0, especially from the World Test Championship point of view.
"Winning this game was important for us. 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. He said even if we get bowled out for 230, it's okay. And he set the tone with the way he stepped out first ball. You get more bite with the new ball than the old ball. The more you put overspin, it's harder on this pitch because the ball doesn't leave the surface. I'm happy to settle into the rhythm. The revs I put on the ball cannot be underestimated," he said in the presentation ceremony.