England county Yorkshire on Thursday confirmed the signing of Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for the upcoming 2020 County Championship.
The 33-year-old Ashwin will be representing Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) this year and after that he will taking over the reins of Yorkshire's front-line spinner for the County Championship.
"Headingley has always been a fantastic venue to play at. People speak about the overhead conditions playing a big part so let's hope for plenty of sun," Yorkshire's official website quoted Ashwin as saying.
"I love playing first-class cricket and have enjoyed my two previous spells with Worcestershire and Nottinghamshire. My role will be to score runs and take wickets but it will be a collective effort if we are to win the title," he added.
Before Ashwin, Yorkshire had the services of South Africa's Keshav Maharaj. The Proteas spinner managed to take 38 wickets last year and also registered two half-centuries with bat in hand.
Maharaj will be re-joining Yorkshire for the opening two fixtures this year.
Ashwin is scheduled to feature in a minimum of eight County Championship fixtures for Yorkshire this season, upon conclusion of his IPL commitments and following a short period of rest at the BCCI's request.
Ashwin has taken 362 wickets in 70 Tests. He is widely regarded as one of the best spinners India has ever produced and is the country's fourth highest wicket-taker and claimed the most international wickets across all three formats last decade (564).
( With inputs from ANI )
