R Ashwin of India achieved a rare distinction which no bowler has achieved in the last 105 years of test cricket. Opening the bowling attack as spinner he had an aggregate of 45 wickets prior to the start of the test series against South Africa. At Mohali, the first test of the series, he opened the bowling and captured five for 51 runs in South Africa’s first innings. These five wickets fetched him an aggregate of 50 wickets. He became the fifth bowler to aggregate 50 plus wickets while opening the bowling attack as a spin bowler and achieved the coveted distinction of becoming the first bowler from 1910 onwards to total 50 plus wickets under this category of statistics. The following table lists the bowlers who have captured fifty wickets. The last bowler to achieve the feat was C Blythe who had captured 74 wickets under this category of statistics. He played eleven tests during 1902 to 1910

No	Player	Team	Span	M	I	Balls	Runs	W	BBI	BBM	Ave	5	10
1	H Trumble	Aus	1893-1904	15	25	4291	1512	93	8/65	12/089	16.25	8	3
2	R Peel	Eng	1884-1896	17	31	4361	1520	88	7/31	11/068	17.27	4	1
3	C Blythe	Eng	1902-1910	13	24	3241	1319	74	8/59	15/099	17.82	8	4
4	GE Palmer	Aus	1880-1885	11	19	3347	1204	62	7/65	11/165	19.41	5	2
5	R Ashwin	Ind	2011-2015	12	15	1888	1018	50	6/47	12/198	20.38	6	2

One more little specification with the above classification – replacing spin bowler – with right arm spin bowler – would redefine the list further. The list would reduce to three bowlers.  Thus R Ashwin became the third right arm spin bowler while opening the bowling to capture 50 plus wickets

No	Player	Team	Span	M	I	Balls	Runs	W	BBI	BBM	Ave	5	10
1	H Trumble	Aus	1893-1904	15	25	4291	1512	93	8/65	12/089	16.25	8	3
2	GE Palmer	Aus	1880-1885	11	19	3347	1204	62	7/65	11/165	19.41	5	2
3	R Ashwin	Ind	2011-2015	12	15	1888	1018	50	6/47	12/198	20.38	6	2