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R Ashwin claimed 100 wickets against England© BCCI/Sportzpics
Ravichandran Ashwin, a modern-day great, scaled a new mountain on Friday when India took on England on Day 1 of the fourth Test in Ranchi. The veteran spinner got his 100th wicket against England in Tests when he dismissed Jonny Bairstow LBW in the morning session. Ashwin, in the process, became the first Indian to get 100 scalps against England in the longest format of the game. Ashwin reached the milestone in his 23rd Test against the English. The overall list is headed by the legendary Shane Warne, who took a whopping 195 wickets against England in 36 Tests.
After Ashwin, the next Indian on the list is BS Chandrasekhar who took 95 wickets against England in 23 matches. Anil Kumble is third on the list with 92 wickets in 19 matches.
Although categorized as a spinner, Ashwin has also done wonders with the bat at times. The Tamil Nadu-born cricketer also became the first Asian bowler to claim 100 wickets against England and at the same time scored 1000 runs against them with the bat.
Ashwin, in the third Test against England in Rajkot, became the second Indian bowler after Anil Kumble to take 500 Test wickets during the third Test against England, a feat that means a lot to the senior bowler after enduring a phase in which he did not know how to get out of the “dark tunnel” into which he had fallen.
Ashwin also became the third player to achieve the feat and remains India’s second-highest wicket-taker behind Kumble, who finished his career with 619 scalps.
The 37-year-old reached the milestone on the second day of the ongoing test. He needed just one wicket for the feat and that stood in the way of opener Zak Crawley, who mistimed a sweep that landed in the safe hands of Rajat Patidar at short fine leg.
The desire to excel and evolve remains very much intrinsic to Ravichandran Ashwin’s core existence, but between 2018-19, the ace spinner felt like it was all over for him, let alone think of having a chance of reaching 500 Test wickets.
With PTI inputs
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