For any cricketer, representing the country at the highest level holds great significance, and if one goes on to play 100 Tests, it’s the icing on the cake, but for India’s star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, the feat means just a number to him.

The fifth Test between India and England, starting Thursday at the picturesque Himachal town of Dharamsala, will mark a century of Test appearances from either side — with Ashwin becoming the 14^th Indian and Jonny Bairstow, the 17^th Englishman to don 100 Test caps.

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This will only be the fourth such occasion in Test history with two players featuring in their 100th game together. The first such occasion was when former England captain Michael Atherton and Alec Stewart reached the landmark against the West Indies at Old Trafford back in 2000. The second instance involved three players as Jacques Kallis, Shaun Pollock, and Stephen Fleming played their 100th Test in the South Africa-New Zealand game in Centurion in 2006. The third was Alastair Cook and Michael Clarke in the England-Australia Ashes contest in Perth in 2013.

And just a day after the India-England game begins on Thursday, New Zealand captain Tim Southee and his predecessor Kane Williamson will play their 100th Test together during the second match against Australia, marking the fifth such occasion.

For India’s premier spin-bowling all-rounder Ashwin, it’s a matter of double pride as he’s set to become the first from Tamil Nadu to feature in 100 Test matches, but ask the off-spinner, he feels that the milestone means more to his family than to him.

“Just because I have great memory, people actually think that I value numbers, but I actually don’t. It does not mean anything to me. The 100th Test match probably means 10 x 100 to my dad, it means a lot to my wife and my mom. My daughters are more excited than I am. It’s just a number. Zaheer Khan could not play 100 Test, MS Dhoni could have rode on his (success) and played 100 Tests, but he did not,” the spinner said on Tuesday.

The veteran tweaker, who recently became the ninth overall and second Indian bowler after former India skipper Anil Kumble to reach 500 Test scalps, pointed out that the 2012 home series against England was instrumental in making him the bowler that he is today. He had taken 14 wickets at an average of 52.64 in four Tests in a series loss which was India’s last on home soil.

Twelve years later, Ashwin looked back at the turning point of his remarkable career, which now features 507 Test wickets.

“It is a pretty big occasion. More than the destination, the journey has been very special. It is a journey of ups and downs and a lot of learnings. One of the turning points of my life was the England series when (Alastair) Cook came here and made all those runs. It has been talked about a lot but to me that and what led to the next home series against Australia (changed a lot for me),” he said.

“There was lot of noise about me being left out of the team, one of the selectors had a chat with me. At that time I was a bit nervy though I don’t know where it came from as I had done well previously.

“When I went back and reflected on it after all those articles written about me, it dawned upon me that what was wrong with me. That is a wonderful lesson that has been kept with me all these years down the line. “When I look back it, it taught me what I had to correct. Some of those questions were raised by me largely,” the 37-year-old added.

Amidst his remarkable achievements, Ashwin etched his name in history as the first Indian cricketer to amass 100 wickets and 1000-plus runs against England in Test cricket, becoming the fourth player to achieve this feat after Gary Sobers, Monty Noble and George Giffen.

Ashwin makes sure you don’t play the previous ball: Root

Over the years, Ravichandran Ashwin has kept reinventing himself, turning on the heat on some of the best players of spin bowling, including England’s former skipper Joe Root. The prolific right-hander has faced 693 balls from Ashwin in Test cricket, and despite milking 418 runs, the Englishman has been dismissed seven times, twice in the ongoing series by the off-spinner.

Pointing out the differences in facing Ashwin and Australia’s premier off-spinner Nathan Lyon, Root said, “I’d say with Ashwin, (it) is making sure that you don’t play the previous ball. He’s (Ashwin) very good at trying to drag you across the crease, get your head one side of it, try and beat both edges quite frequently.”

“With Lyon, it’s all about overspin, especially in the first half of the Test match. (He) is (trying) to get really over the top of the ball, get bounce or bowling between your knee-roll and hip, and, try and bring short leg and leg slip in the game as much as he can. And then just slowly get slower with his pace and drift wider into those footholds that Mitchell Starc has so kindly done for him for such a long period of time.

“Ashwin is, probably, slightly more trying to find ways of getting you out, rather than trying to weigh you down like Lyon will over long periods of time,” Root added.