1. Ravichandran Ashwin (India) – 72 wickets
ICC’s no.1 ranked Test bowler, Ravichandran Ashwin finished 2016 with 72 wickets in 23 innings with 8 five-fers and 3 ten-fers to his credit. This year, Ashwin, for the first time in his career scalped a fifer in non-Asian conditions. It came against West Indies. At home, he was terrific yet again and knocked down New Zealand and England respectively. Interestingly, he showcased some great skills to deceive batsmen, in conditions and at times, when things weren’t tailor-made for him.
Remarkably, he was fabulous with the willow in hand as well and rescued Indian batting, on quite a few occasions. He averaged 43.71 and again hounded West Indian bowling to take his centuries tally from 2 to 4 in red-ball cricket.
**ALL STATS ARE UPDATED TILL MORNING OF 28TH DECEMBER AND INCLUDES NUMBERS FROM AUS-PAK (DAY 3) BUT EXCLUDES STATS OF SA-SL (DAY 3).
