Legendary Sunil Gavaskar believes Ravichandran Ashwin should have been honored with the Indian captaincy as he deserved more for his consistent contributions to Indian cricket. Ashwin recently completed 500 Test wickets in the third Test match against England at Rajkot when he dismissed Zak Crawley in the first innings.

The veteran off-spinner became the second Indian bowler after Anil Kumble to scale the mountain of 500 wickets. The Tamil Nadu spinner also became the second-quickest to complete 500 Test wickets as he reached the milestone in 98 Test matches after Muttiah Muralitharan.

However, Ashwin had to rush back home due to a family emergency during the third Test. Ashwin returned back to join the team on the fourth day’s play and got rid of Tom Hartley.

“Congratulations to Ravichandran Ashwin on capturing his 500th Test wicket. What a tremendous cricketer he has been. One of the finest thinkers in the game and always willing to try something new and different, be it a run-up, delivery action and of course, deliveries to bamboozle the batter,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-Day.

“He should have been honored with the India captaincy a couple of years back when there were two India teams playing around the same time. Well done, Ashwin, and wish you many more wickets, newer deliveries and different actions in the future.”

Ashwin has consistently performed for India over the years and has done a terrific job for the team. The off-spinner has scalped 501 wickets in 98 Test matches at an impressive average of 23.94.

Meanwhile, India won the Rajkot Test by 434 runs, claiming their biggest Test victory, to take a 2-1 lead against England.

India and England will next take on each other at JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi in the fourth Test match from Friday.