Ashwin bagged his career's 23rd five-wicket haul in Tests on Friday. Hence, he has made and matches a few Indian records. It was Ashwin's second 5-for in the ongoing Test series vs. England.
Rahane, who suffered a blow on his finger, was forced to miss out on the Mumbai Test in the ongoing five-Test series against England.
Meanwhile, Ashwin still stands strong and gritty beside his skipper.
With every passing game, the spinner's graph keeps going on the top, making and breaking records which in turn have been proving to do wonders for the Indian team.
The fourth Test is underway in Mumbai where Ashwin has recorded yet another five-wicket haul; it was his second in the series and seventh five-for of 2016 in the whites. He touched the seven-mark even in 2015.
He dismissed the likes of Keaton Jennings, Joe Root, Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes in the first innings at Wankhede only to match the level of legendary former World Cup winning skipper Kapil Dev.
Only two spinner - Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble - have more five-for than Ashwin in Tests.
| Name | No. of 5-fors | No. of Tests |
| Anil Kumble | 35 | 132 |
| Harbhajan Singh | 25 | 103 |
| Kapil Dev | 23 | 131 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | 23 | 43 |
The fact that Ashwin is just 12 five-fors behind India's greatest spinner in the longest format testifies his capability of emulating Kumble and maybe surpassing his numbers by a huge margin.
Ashwin had another feat to his name when he notched up his fifth wicket of the innings on Day two of the Mumbai Test on Friday. It is the eighth series for Ashwin with 2 or more five-wicket hauls, equalling Kumble and Kapil who also had eight such series.
The most number of wickets taken by Indian spinners in a calendar year:
| Name | No of wickets | Year |
| Kapil Dev | 75 | 1983 |
| Kapil Dev | 74 | 1979 |
| Anil Kumble | 74 | 2004 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | 64* | 2016 |
| Harbhajan Singh | 63 | 2002 & 2008 |
Since India will play just one more Test in 2016 - the fifth Test against England in Chennai - Kapil Dev's record of 75 scalps might remain intact.
Here is a video of Ashwin's five-wicket haul in West Indies earlier in 2016:
