Highlights:
- R Ashwin crossed veteran bowler Harbhajan Singh as he took his 418th Test wicket against NZ, on Monday.
- The 35-year old off-spinner now occupies the 3rd spot among Indian cricketers only behind the spin wizard Anil Kumble and first world cup-winning captain of India, Kapil Dev.
Indian Offspinner, Ravichandran Ashwin, beat former India teammate, Harbhajan Singh to occupy the 3rd spot in the list of most-wicket takers among the Indian cricketers. Ashwin treasured this milestone achieved on Monday as he picked up his 418th Test wicket.
The 35-year old bowler swarmed up to the third place in the list eliminating Tom Latham on 52 in the second inning’s 55th over. This was the wicket that helped him overtake the former legendary Indian spinner, Harbhajan Singh who stands with 417 wickets from 103 matches to his name.
Ashwin, remarkably, achieved the feat in just 80 Tests.
Spin genius Anil Kumble, who was also the former India coach, continues to reign the table at 1st position with 619 wickets. Next in line is the first World Cup-winning captain of India, Kapil Dev who totalled 434 scalps under his name.
Ashwin spoke of how Harbhajan Singh was the driving force behind him taking up off-spin.
The breakthrough wicket by Ashwin was an extremely significant one as it was necessary to disintegrate the Latham-Williamson partnership. The end of the innings was marked by a score of 345 for the Indian team while NZ was bowled out at 296.
India scored 234/7 by the culmination of the second innings handing a target of 284 to New Zealand. 56 overs later, the scoreboard read 119/3 demanding an additional 165 runs for the black caps.
Meanwhile, star spinner Ravichandran Ashwin stole the spotlight with his jaw-dropping tactics in the Test against New Zealand in Kanpur. Despite getting into a tiff with Tim Southee, he picked 3 wickets during the first innings with a 49 run lead.
He continued with his spectacular antics in the second innings where he took the wicket of New Zealand Opener, Will Young.
Ashwin, in a staggering revelation, said that he stood at the crossroads contemplating the future of his Test career post-2020 lockdown. Not only did he manage to turn things around but in the process became the 4th Indian bowler with over 400 scalps. This accomplishment made him the 13 highest Test wicket-takers of all time exceeding the 414 wicket record set by Pakistan’s Wasim Akram.
Also Read, 10 ODI Bowlers in the world According To ICC
Ashwin played his Test debut against West Indies in November 2011 in New Delhi and took 9 wickets in the match inclusive of a five-wicket haul during the 2nd innings. He also claimed the man of the match title in the same. The right-arm off-break bowler has maintained a strike of 52.4 alongside an average of 24.5 while claiming his wickets. To cite another notable achievement, Ashwin has taken 30 “fifers” (five-wicket hauls) in international cricket ranking 10th in the all-time list and 2nd in India.
Ashwin debuted in ODI and T20I in June 2010 playing against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe respectively. He has not yet taken five-wicket hauls in these. Playing against the UAE in the 2015 World Cup, he took 4 wickets in 25 runs and that remains his best ODI performance as of now. His claim of 4 wickets for 8 runs against Sri Lanka are categorised as 4th best by an Indian in the Twenty20 International.