Australian batter Usman Khawaja hailed Ravichandran Ashwin’s cricketing acumen on the eve of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024, which is set to commence on November 22.

Since his debut in 2011, Ashwin has had an exceptional Test career. The experienced veteran, who has played more than 100 Test matches, has picked up 516 wickets and scored 3,309 runs.

The left-handed batters haven’t been too troublesome for him, either; Ashwin has taken 256 of his Test wickets against southpaws, the most by any bowler in the history of the format. He is also one bowler who has dismissed Usman Khawaja four times in eight encounters.

“Ravi is a very good bowler. He is very strategic. He always has a plan,” Khawaja said while speaking to Star Sports.

“Cricketing brain-wise, I respect the way he tries to figure things out and get ahead of the game. Playing against him has always been cool, and I do look forward to the challenge,” said Khawaja.

India is to tour Australia in November for a five-Test series, aiming for a historic third series victory on Australian soil, following their triumphs in 2018-19 and 2020-21.

Khawaja is the highest Australian run-getter in the World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle with 943 runs from 12 matches. He is among the players who have scored more than 5000 Test runs for Australia with 15 centuries.

Ashwin, who plies his trade with the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League, has emerged as India’s most successful bowler in Test matches against Australia. The 114 wickets he has picked in just 22 innings surpass every Test player in the India-Australia series, leaving only Nathan Lyon ahead of him in this long-standing battle.

In the current WTC cycle, too, 37-year-old Ashwin has been terrific form, picking up 42 wickets from eight matches at an impressive average of 21.69 and a strike rate of 37.92.