Ravichandran Ashwin's outing for Surrey was far from impressive as he claimed just one wicket in 43 overs while featuring in a County Championship match against Somerset.

The off-spinner, who has taken 413 wickets from 79 Tests, is playing this match in order to get valuable match practice for the upcoming five-Test series against England, starting August 4.

Ashwin had opened the bowling in Somerset’s first innings and got the prized scalp of Tom Lammonby in the 40th over of the game, beating his defences and disturbing his stumps.

The veteran campaigner may have opened the bowling with a view of having a go at the English openers in the Test series. Notably, England’s top-order batsmen had found it tough to combat him and Akshar Patel during the Test tour of India earlier this year.

Ahead of the ongoing county game, Ashwin had expressed happiness at getting an opportunity.

"I am so privileged to be having the badge on. I have heard and wondered what the London counties are all about. Even though it's only for a game, I am delighted to share this dressing room," he had said in a video shared by Surrey county team.

Indian cricketers are on a 20-day break from the bio-bubble life following the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final against New Zealand, which they lost by 8 wickets.

The entire squad is due to assemble in London on July 14, before travelling to Nottingham to start their preparations for the England Test series.

It is pertinent to note here that Team India will play a warm-up game against ‘Select County XI’ from July 20 to 22. ECB decided to arrange the practice match after BCCI’s request earlier this month.

(Inputs from Associated Press)