India's star spinner Ravichandran Ashwin once again proved his prowess with the ball to show the world why he is considered as one of the greats of Red-ball cricket. Right after taking Charith Asalanka's wicket in the ongoing Test against Sri Lanka on Sunday (March 6), Ashwin reached a milestone of becoming India's second most wicket-taker in Tests as he surpassed the 434 scalps of the legendary Kapil Dev.
Ashwin achieved this feat in his 85th match in the longest format while the iconic Kapil Dev took 131 Tests to do this. Now he is just behind Anil Kumble, who concluded his illustrious career with 619 wickets in 132 Tests.
In the first innings, the 35-year-old bowled a spell of 2/49 as in the second innings he returned with 3/33 as India forced a follow-on on Sri Lanka who are struggling at 121/5 as of 36 overs. Sri Lanka ran out of gas in their first innings as they slumped to a paltry 174. Earlier, India posted a colossal total of 574/8 dec riding on Ravindra Jadeja's unbeaten 175. The star all-rounder further followed it by a sensational spell of 5/41 to wreak havoc on Sri Lankan batters in the first innings.
Ashwin is the fourth Indian bowler to take more than 400 wickets in Test cricket. He also became the 9th highest Test wicket-taker of all time after overtaking New Zealand's Richard Hadlee (431) and Sri Lanka's Rangana Herath (432) in the ongoing Test against Sri Lanka in Mohali. Among active Test cricketers, Ashwin is the third-highest wicket-taker after England fast bowling duo Stuart Broad (537) and James Anderson (640).
Leading wicket-takers in Tests:
1. Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka) 133 matches 800 wickets
2. Shane Warne (Australia) 145 matches 708 wickets
3. James Anderson (England) 169 matches 640 wickets
4. Anil Kumble (India) 132 matches 619 wickets
5. Glenn McGrath (Australia) 124 matches 563 wickets
6. Stuart Broad (England) 152 matches 537 wickets
7. Courtney Walsh (West Indies) 132 matches 519 wickets
8. Dale Steyn (South Africa) 93 matches 439 wickets
9. R Ashwin (India) 85 matches 435 wickets
10. Kapil Dev (India) 131 matches 434 wickets
