Gautam Gambhir believes Ashwin’s impact is same as Kapil Dev’s

Former India opener Gautam Gambhir believes Ravichandran Ashwin's impact as an all-rounder in the Indian team is comparable to that of former India captain Kapil Dev. Ashwin, who is currently the second-ranked all-rounder as per ICC’s ranking, recently surpassed Dev's tally of 434 Test wickets in the Mohali Test against Sri Lanka.

During a discussion on Star Sports, Gambhir was asked if Ashwin has been second only to the legend, Kapil Dev in the all-round department for Team India. To which he responded, "Probably not second. I think parallel to Kapil Dev because of the sort of impact Ravichandran Ashwin has had.

The former India cricketer has also opined that Ashwin has made substantial contributions with the bat in recent times as well. 

Gambhir observed, "He has scored five Test hundreds although I don't want to go with stats, they can be very very misleading."

However, Ashwin has amassed 2905 runs which came at an average of 27.14 in the 85 Tests he has played for Team India so far. On the other hand, Kapil Dev had scored 5248 runs at an average of 31.05 in the 131 Tests he had played for India, including eight centuries.

Meanwhile, the former India opener has lauded R Ashwin's spell in the Melbourne Test of India's last tour of Australia. 

"Ravichandran Ashwin's spell in Melbourne, I have said this openly and I will say it again - that is the best spell I have seen in my entire career by an off-spinner across decades, across generations. It was a spell on the first day when he got Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne and Matthew Wade out," he further recited. 

The cricketer-turned-commentator has also added that Ashwin’s spell came on the first day of the Test and that too with the Kookaburra ball as well.

Gambhir concluded, "The way Ashwin bowled on the first day, I don't think any other off-spinner has created such an impact in Australian conditions and that too with the Kookaburra ball. If you ask any finger spinner, they would have hated playing with the Kookaburra ball because neither does it have that seam nor does it get that much bounce."