On Day 1 of the Mumbai Test against New Zealand, Ravindra Jadeja surpassed Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan to become India's fifth-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket. With 314 wickets, Jadeja passed both Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan to take this position, who each had 311 wickets. Jadeja's well-executed delivery that darted in with the arm to remove Glenn Phillips left the batter utterly beaten, setting a new record. He had already eliminated Will Young and Tom Blundell, showcasing his adaptability on a field with varying turns.
Despite Will Young's 71 and Daryl Mitchell's 82, Jadeja finished with stats of 5 for 65 as New Zealand was bowled out for 235 runs. After the first two sessions were evenly split between the two sides, Jadeja reversed the tide of the match in the third on a hot and muggy day at the Wankhede stadium.
Jadeja on this milestone
Taking a fifer for India in Tests, it's always special. Felt good that I helped my team in getting breakthroughs. It wasn't an easy bowl in the heat, Washington bowled well and everyone played their roles. As a batting unit, we need a collective effort. (On overtaking Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma) I didn't know that. I look at the stats when I am not playing. Good that I'm progressing and taking wickets," said Jadeja at the end of Day 1.
"You got to mix your pace on this wicket. You can't bowl too slow, there's bounce but not much pace. You got to use your shoulder and get more revs to generate the bounce. (Last 15 minutes of play) It was unexpected, miscommunication and misjudgement happens. We are 150 runs behind, small partnerships to take team's total over 230 will be our game-plan," he added.
Jadeja now trails Harbhajan Singh, who took 417 wickets in 103 Test matches, with 314 wickets. In his ten-year Test career, he has continuously served as both a bowler and a batsman for India, and this accomplishment represents an outstanding chapter in his career. He also became just the third Indian player to hit the milestone of 3,000 runs and 300 wickets earlier in this series; Kapil Dev and Ravichandran Ashwin had already accomplished this achievement. Notably, behind Ian Botham of England, Jadeja is the second-fastest person to reach this milestone.
