Murali Vs Ashwin: Comparison of Cricket Legends
Let me start with something that fans of both Murali and Ashwin can agree upon. Both Muttiah Muralitharan and Ravichandran Ashwin are Legends in their own regard. Although we can still compare their contribution to Cricket World, their Teams and Culture overall. So, before I dive into statistical comparison, let’s address a must have list for Legends.
- Legends must be superior than others of their ERA.
- Legends must be able to utilize most of the conditions underplay in their ERA.
- Legends must have made the most significant impact in the game for their Team.
Let’s compare these two legends from these 4 different perspectives:
1 — Overall Stats
2 — Cricketing Conditions
3 — Peer Comparison
4 — Impact on Team Results and Culture
1 — Overall Stats: Murali after 66 Tests Vs Ashwin after 66 Tests
After 66 Tests, their numbers looks astonishingly identical:
- Both have claimed exactly 350 Wickets
- Out of those 66 Test Matches, both have claimed 10+ Wickets in a Match exactly 7 times. That’s more than 10% of the Test match played so far in their Career.
- Murali has claimed 5 Wickets or more 28 times, whereas Ashwin 27 times.
- Murali averages 24.79, whereas Ashwin 25.39. A difference of just 0.6.
- Where Ashwin has a better strike rate of 53.6 than Murali at 61.8. He averages a little lower than Murali.
10 Legends after 66 Tests: Comparing Murali and Ashwin with top players of all time.
*is for Balls bowled rather than Overs
- MD Marshall has best bowling average of these 10 Players: 20.54. Ashwin and Murali at this point of time have the worst bowling average, but among pace bowlers Steyn has the worst average at 22.67.
- Dale Steyn has the best bowling strike rate of these 10 Players: 41.2. Warne and Murali at this point of time have the worst strike rate, but among pace bowlers Imran Khan has the worst strike rate at 52.9.
- Sir RJ Hadlee is the only other player with more than 22 of 5 Wicket hauls and more than 5 of 10 Wicket hauls in a match.
It’s fair to call it a Draw: Murali — 1, Ashwin — 1
2 — Cricketing Conditions: Since both Murali and Ashwin are spinners, let’s compare their performance in Asian Vs Non-asian conditions after 66 Tests into their career:
Conditions: Home Vs Away
While Ashwin has been phenomenal at Home and Asian Conditions, Murali had a much more balanced performance across Asia as well as outside Asia.
Conditions: Asia Vs Outside Asia
Ashwin’s performance outside Asia is sub-optimal with an average of 38.09, it’s nowhere close to Murali’s average of 26.75 or other Legends of spin bowling like Shane Warne.
Cricketing Conditions: Murali — 1, Ashwin — 0
3 — Comparison with Peers: with other Bowlers who bowled in these 66 matches
This is what differentiates Legends among Greats, when they are compared with their peers who played not only in the same ERA, but in the same matches.
Murali took 38% of all the wickets taken by his teammates. It’s hard to imagine if Sri Lanka could win as many matches without Murali. However, when we look at their bowling average relative to overall average in those matches. Both Murali and Ashwin fare even at 1.27.
With Murali in Play: A comparison with Peers
DL Vettori and AA Donald performed better than Murali overall.
With Ashwin in Play: A comparison with Peers
On the other hand, Ashwin has had a very good support from his teammates, with RA Jadeja, Bumrah, PP Ojha, Mohammed Shami all contributing with better average and taking almost 5 wickets per match.
It’s a tough matchup between the two here, but Murali takes an edge over Ashwin as he still managed to be in the top among his peers, whereas some might argue that Ashwin was just marginally better at times.
Comparison with Peers: Murali — 1, Ashwin — 0
4 — Impact on Team, Wins and Culture:
Man of the Match Awards & Contribution to Team Results:
- Although Ashwin was awarded Man of the Match award 7 times, it was not just because of his bowling performance. 3 of these 7 times he scored a century as well. So his contribution in winning for his team goes beyond his bowling abilities.
- % of all the Wickets taken by Murali was 38%, which is just phenomenal. Ashwin at 31.14% did quite well, but was well supported by conditions suitable for other bowlers from his team. Apart from Murali, only Sir RJ Hadlee and SF Barnes have done better than Ashwin.
- Against Top Batsmen of their ERA — Well that’s for some other time
Impact on Results, Team and Culture: Murali — 1, Ashwin — 0
Murali also had a flourishing career post these 66 Test Matches, where he claimed 450 wickets in just 67 Test Matches, which sets him further apart from all the Legends.
