Bangladesh vs South Africa, 1st Test Day: South Africa speedster Kagiso Rabada on October 21 rewrote record books at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka as he became the fastest to 300 Test wickets in terms of balls taken. Rabada broke former Pakistan pacer Waqar Younis’ record who took 12,602 balls to take 300 Test wickets. Rabada achieved the feat in 11,187 balls.
For South Africa, the previous record belonged to Dale Steyn who achieved the milestone in 12,605 balls. He is followed by Allan Donald who did it in 13,672 balls.
In terms of Test taken, Rabada became the third-fastest South African to take 300 wickets. This was his 65th Test appearance. For South Africa, Steyn is on top (61 Tests) followed by Donald (63 Tests). The top spot belongs to India's Ravichandran Ashwin who completed 300 Test wickets in his 54th Test. For fast bowlers, the record belongs to former Australia pacer Dennis Lillee.
There is another list where Rabada is ahead of all the bowlers in Test cricket history who have 300 wickets in the format. His strike rate of 39.3 is the highest. Steyn is second on the list with strike rate of 42.3.
The 29-year-old is the sixth South African bowler to take 300 Test wickets.
Most wickets for South Africa in Tests
439 - Dale Steyn (93 Tests)
421 - Shaun Pollock (108 Tests)
390 - Makhaya Ntini (101 Tests)
330 - Allan Donald (72 Tests)
309 - Morne Morkel (86 Tests)
301* - Kagiso Rabada (65)*
Rabada’s milestone wicket
Rabada's milestone wicket was veteran Bangladesh batter Mushfiqur Rahim. Rabada knocked over Mushfiqur's middle stump to complete 300 Test wickets. A few overs later, he got the wicket of wicketkeeper-batter Litton Das as Tristan Stubbs took a stunner at gully. After Wiaan Mulder's three wickets with the new ball, Rabada helped the visitors reduce Bangladesh to 45/5 in the 20th over.
Earlier, Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto won the toss and opted to bat first. Shanto felt that the pitch is dry and help spinners later on in the game which is typical in Bangladesh.
