Ravichandran Ashwin achieved a great milestone on day 2 of the third Test against England as he became the fourth Indian bowler to pick up 400 Test wickets.
The off-spinner reached the mark in his 77th Test, which makes him the second-fastest to the feat, missing out on Muttiah Muralitharan’s record by five matches. The Sri Lankan had picked his 400th wicket in his 72nd Test.
Ashwin followed the footsteps of Indian cricket greats Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble, and Harbhajan Singh who had reached the milestone before him. Kumble remains the highest Test wicket-taker for India with 619 scalps.
Ashwin holds the record for being the fastest to pick up 300 wickets in Test cricket. The offie had picked up three wickets in the first innings of the third Test.
On a pitch where spinners were picking up wickets almost on cue, Ashwin struggled to get going in the second innings even as Axar Patel struck early blows.
After being denied by DRS, Ashwin got his bunny Ben Stokes out in the 18th over of the innings, trapping him right in front of the wicket.
His 399th victim was Ollie Pope, who missed the straighter one and was clean bowled. Ashwin reached the milestone by trapping Jofra Archer in front.
BCCI paid tribute to Ashwin by calling him a ‘world champion bowler’. ICC too paid tribute to Ashwin through their Twitter handle.
Surjitt Sahani
