Team India’s premier spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Monday became the quickest to reach 300 wickets in the history of Test cricket. He broke the record of Australian legend Dennis Lillee, set in 1981, reaching the landmark in 54 Test matches. Lillee took 56 matches to achieve the milestone.
Ashwin, who is currently ranked fourth in the ICC rankings for Test bowlers, claimed the wickets of Dasun Shanaka, Dilruwan Perera, Rangana Herath and Lahiru Gamage on the fourth day to reach the milestone.
“I really hope I can go on to double these 300 wickets. I’ve only played 50 Tests,” said the 31-year-old off-spinner after India crushed Sri Lanka on the fourth day of the second Test in Nagpur.
“It’s not easy bowling spin, it looks like you’re just ambling up. But there’s a lot (that goes) behind it.”
Very few Indian bowlers are as dominating in a Test when Ashwin is on song. Ashwin has already seven (10 wicket haul in a match) and in all likelihood will overtake Kumble’s record of eight (10 wicket hauls in 132 Tests).
Even if he retires today, Ashwin will be hailed as one of India’s greatest match winners. No one has won more Man of the Series awards than him in Test cricket. The fact that he has played a significantly less number of series’ in comparison to Sachin Tendulkar (74) and Virender Sehwag (39) gives you a sense of the magnitude of the achievement.
With 7 Man of the Series awards in just 19 series, the Tamil Nadu spinner has enough time to go past Mutthiah Muralitharan’s world record of 11 awards in 61 series.
