Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has lauded Ravichandran Ashwin as the off-spinner is playing his 100th Test match at Dharamsala against England. Ashwin on Thursday became the 14th Indian player to feature in 100 Test matches.

Ashwin has been a consistent performer for India in the last decade and has delivered for the national team in all conditions. The veteran off-spinner has bagged a total of 507 wickets in 99 Test matches at an impressive average of 23.92 and he is the second-highest wicket-taker for India after Anil Kumble in the red-ball version.

Ashwin has taken 35 five-wicket hauls in Test cricket and he is still going strongly at the top level. The off-spinner returned with impressive figures of 5-51 in the second innings at Ranchi and played a key role in skittling out England at 145.

Furthermore, Ashwin has scored 3309 runs in his glorious Test career, including five centuries and thus has added crucial runs while batting down the order.

Meanwhile, Ricky Ponting has observed Ravichandran Ashwin from close quarters while coaching Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League.

“He’s a master of spin in any conditions. He’s been an incredible cricketer, no doubt about it. I had a chance to coach him for a couple of years at Delhi, and loved working with him. He’s got a lot of theories and philosophies on the game, which I really like,” Ponting said in ICC Review.

“He’s always done things a little bit differently and done things his own way. But he just continued to evolve as a bowler. That’s the thing that I loved about him when I was coaching him, he’d stand at the end of his mark and he’d be working on something different, a little tweak to his action or a change of grip or a different delivery. He’s never been one that was going to die wondering about trying to find ways to get better,” Ashwin added.

Ashwin will look to continue the good show at the top level. England captain Ben Stokes has won the toss in Dharamsala and has decided to bat first.