Ravi Ashwin became the 2nd Indian and 9th player overall to have 500 wickets in test matches. He made this record yesterday playing against England at Rajkot. He is the 4th spinner in the list and 2nd off-spinner after Nathan Lyon took 500 wickets in test matches.
Ashwin played 98 test matches in his career and made this record against the Englishmen on the home track. He is the second Indian after veteran Anil Kumble(619) to make this record. Englishmen, led by Ben Duckett were in an attacking mood by implementing the Bazzball. Indian captain Rohit Sharma brought Ravi Ashwin into the attack and he removed Zak Crawley in the 14th over.
Ashwin was warmly welcomed by his teammates along with Coach Rahul Dravid from the dressing room with this record. He looked more relieved while reaching the milestone, but the celebrations were muted as the series had yet to win and England was playing well in the match.
Ravi Ashwin’s 500 Scalps in test
Apart from Ashwin, Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne, Anil Kumble, and Nathan Lyon are the only spinners who have taken more wickets than him in Test history. The spin wizard made his Test debut in November 2011 and has been India’s strike bowler in Tests, especially at home, where he has taken 347 of his 500 wickets.
He joins fellow spinners Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka – 800), the late Shane Warne (Australia – 708), Anil Kumble, and Nathan Lyon (Australia – 517) in the exclusive club. Ravi Ashwin is 37 now and has played 98 Tests since his debut in 2011. He has scored 3,308 runs including five Test centuries as a batsman. Alongside Ashwin, Jadeja was India’s prime spinner on home soil especially.
Ashwin became the second fastest man (98 matches) to 500 wickets, only second to Muttiah Muralitharan (87 matches). He is the giant of a spinner in home turk where he claims 351 wickets at an average of 21.26. Even away from home, he took 149 scalps at an average of 30.40.
In the Test bowlers’ wicket-taking tally, Ashwin at present, stands at ninth, between Nathan Lyon (517) and Dale Steyn (439), his 500 coming at the remarkable average of just 23.94. Also, Ashwin took 25,714 balls to take 500 wickets, second after Glenn McGrath who took 25,528. Among his 500 scalps, 249 of Ashwin’s victims have been left-handers, which makes him the most effective hunter of left-handed batsmen in Test history (Jimmy Anderson is the only other member of the 500 club to have passed 200 (217); while Muralitharan collected a relatively paltry 191).