R Ashwin became the third bowler in the annals of test cricket to capture five wickets haul on eight occasions when a spinner has shared the new ball. R Ashwin shares this feat with C Blythe of England and H Trumble of Australia. Both these bowlers had captured five wickets haul on eight occasion while they opened the bowling as spinners. The following table lists the performance of the three bowlers

C Blythe of England
No	Overs	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	Pos	Inns	Opposition	Ground	Start Date
1	32.0	13	68	6	2	1	v South Africa	Cape Town	24 Mar 1906
2	28.5	10	50	5	2	3	v South Africa	Cape Town	24 Mar 1906
3	15.5	1	59	8	2	2	v South Africa	Leeds	29 Jul 1907
4	22.4	9	40	7	1	4	v South Africa	Leeds	29 Jul 1907
5	20.3	5	61	5	1	2	v South Africa	The Oval	19 Aug 1907
6	23.0	6	44	6	2	1	v Australia	Birmingham	27 May 1909
7	24.0	3	58	5	2	3	v Australia	Birmingham	27 May 1909
8	18.0	5	46	7	2	2	v South Africa	Cape Town	11 Mar 1910
H Trumble of Australia
No	Overs	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	Pos	Inns	Opposition	Ground	Start Date
1	40.0×5	10	59	6	2	1	v England	The Oval	10 Aug 1896
2	25.0×3	9	30	6	1	3	v England	The Oval	10 Aug 1896
3	39.3×5	16	60	5	1	2	v England	Leeds	29 Jun 1899
4	44.0×6	18	74	6	1	3	v England	Adelaide	17 Jan 1902
5	25.0×6	4	62	5	2	2	v England	Melbourne	28 Feb 1902
6	25.0×6	9	53	6	1	4	v England	Manchester	24 Jul 1902
7	31.0×6	13	65	8	1	2	v England	The Oval	11 Aug 1902
8	10.5×6	2	34	5	1	3	v England	Melbourne	01 Jan 1904
R Ashwin of Indiia
No	Overs	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	Pos	Inns	Opposition	Ground	Start Date
1	21.3	5	47	6	2	3	v West Indies	Delhi	06 Nov 2011
2	32.0	6	95	5	1	3	v Australia	Chennai	22 Feb 2013
3	28.0	12	63	5	2	3	v Australia	Hyd-RGS	02 Mar 2013
4	25.0	6	87	5	2	2	v Bangladesh	Fatullah	10 Jun 2015
5	16.0	6	42	5	1	4	v Sri Lanka	Col-RPS	20 Aug 2015
6	24.0	5	51	5	1	2	v South Africa	Mohali	05 Nov 2015
7	16.1	6	32	5	2	2	v South Africa	Nagpur	25 Nov 2015
8	29.5	7	66	7	2	4	v South Africa	Nagpur	25 Nov 2015

R Ashwin’s feat of eight five wicket haul has come after 105 years of test cricket. The last occasion of a bowler performing this feat was in Mar 1910, when C Blythe of England had captured his eighth five wicket haul as a spinner opening the bowling in an innings against South Africa at Cape Town in Mar 1910.

It is just a coincidence that both C Blythe and R Ashwin captured their eighth five wicket haul against South Africa  – C Blythe at Cape Town in Mar 1910 and R Ashwin at Nagpur in Nov 2015

It is also purely coincidental that both C Blythe and R Ashwin had their eighth five wicket haul as seven wicket hauls. C Blythe returned with figures of 7 for 46 against South Africa at Cape Town Mar 1910 and R Ashwin returned with figures of 7 for 66 against South Africa at Nagpur in Nov 2015