India vs England: Ravichandran Ashwin becomes fastest Indian bowler to take 400 wickets in Test cricket
India vs England: Ravichandran Ashwin picked up the wickets of Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope and Jofra Archer to complete 400 wickets in Test cricket on Thursday.
In Short
- Jofra Archer became Ravichandran Ashwin's 400th Test wicket
- R Ashwin is the 2nd fastest bowler to take 400 wickets in Test cricket
- Ashwin also went past 600 Test wickets across formats during his performance
India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Thursday joined an elite list of cricketers as he picked up his 400th wicket in the ongoing Pink-ball Test in Ahmedabad at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
England's Jofra Archer became Ashwin's 400th victim in Test cricket. He is the 4th Indian and the quickest from this country to enter the 400 club after Anil Kumble (619), Kapil Dev (434) and Harbhajan Singh (417).
Ashwin was 6 wickets short of the landmark before the third Test against England. He bagged 3 wickets in the first innings and then sent back Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope and Archer in the second session on Day 2 to achieve the feat at Motera.
Incidentally, Ashwin is the second-quickest bowler to complete 400 Test wickets. Sri Lankan legend Muttiah Muralitharan holds the record, having reached the milestone in 72 Tests while Ashwin has done it in 77 matches.
India vs England Pink-ball Test Day 2 Live Updates
Ashwin also overtook Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon on the overall list to grab the 16th place on the list which is again headed by Muralitharan with 800 wickets.
Special bowler
Special milestone
Special emotions
Take a bow, @ashwinravi99! @Paytm #INDvENG #TeamIndia #PinkBallTest
Follow the match https://t.co/9HjQB6TZyX pic.twitter.com/HkxrEiTFpo — BCCI (@BCCI) February 25, 2021
The third Test has opened up in the first two sessions thanks to the prodigious turn on offer at the Motera pitch.
England captain Joe Root's maiden five-wicket haul saw India collapsing from 99 for 3 to 145-all out in the first session. Root bagged 5 for 8 while Jack Leach took 4 as the visitors stormed back into the match after their first innings 112 on Day 1.
Left-arm off-spinner Axar Patel then began the proceedings for Team India with a wicket off the very first ball of England's 2nd innings as he sent back Zak Crawley for a golden duck.
A ball later Patel castled Jonny Bairstow for a duck before he had Dom Sibley caught behind for 7.
Ashwin then joined the party and put his name on the wickets column to put India back in the driver's seat after they took a slim 33-run first-innings lead. He also went past 600 international wickets, becoming the 5th Indian to achieve the feat.
Anil Kumble (956), Harbhajan Singh (711), Kapil Dev (687) and Zaheer Khan (610) had achieved the feat before Ashwin.