India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is set to embark on his second county stint in England after signing up with Nottinghamshire for the second half of the season.

The 32-year-old India Test stalwart will replace Australia’s James Pattinson as Nottinghamshire’s overseas player towards the end of the June and is set to play six first-class County Championship fixtures for the side.

It will be the second stint in the county circuit for Ashwin who had previously turned out for Worcestershire in 2017 where he picked up 20 wickets in his four appearances for the outfit.

“I’m really looking forward to joining up with Nottinghamshire, to playing cricket at an iconic venue like Trent Bridge and hopefully contributing to some County Championship victories,” Ashwin told Nottingamshire’s official website.

“I enjoyed my previous stint in England with Worcestershire. It’s a good, competitive standard of cricket over there and I can’t wait to get started.”

Ashwin’s stint at Trent Bridge will get underway on June 30 and he will play in six of the side’s final seven red-ball clashes. The off-spinner will miss the clash against Scarborough due to his India commitments.

“We knew what we wanted to sign and that was a world-class bowler,” Nottinghamshire’s Director of Cricket, Mike Newell stated.

“Whether that was a fast or a slow bowler, we were prepared to look at all options. As it happens, we’ve signed a very good spinner, a very experienced spinner and one we hope can contribute with the bat as well.

“We’ve seen world-class slow bowlers have a huge match-winning effect in county cricket over many years. Ravi certainly has that potential – and we’re very much looking forward to welcoming him to the squad and letting him loose on our opposition.”

Ashwin will be the second India player to play in the county this season with Ajinkya Rahane signing up for Hampshire earlier. Rahane had registered a ton on his county debut with a 119-run knock in the second innings of his side’s fixture against Nottinghamshire recently.