With Muttiah Muralitharan’s record in sight, R Ashwin on cusp of history in Vizag
Legendary Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan remains the fastest bowler to have taken 350 wickets in Test cricket. India’s Ravichandran Ashwin, who bagged a 7-wicket-haul in the first innings against the Proteas at Visakhapatnam, has amassed a total of 349 scalps and only needs one more in this match to go level with Muralitharan. Murali had reached the landmark in his 66th Test for Sri Lanka as the Islanders were involved in a contest against Bangladesh back in 2001.
Two wickets on Day 2, three on Day 3 and two more on Day 4 enabled Ashwin to take seven wickets in the Vizag Test. Playing his 66th Test for India, Ashwin has emerged as the pick of the bowlers for India in the match, with Ravindra Jadeja being a distant second (2 wickets).
With the 7-wicket-haul in the first innings, Ashwin has managed to reach some new milestones in the traditional format of the game. Here’s a statistical look:
Only Nathan Lyon (355) has taken more wickets than R Ashwin (349) since the off-spinner made his debut in November 2011. What goes in the favour of the Indian is that he has taken 22 less Test matches to reach the tally.
Against South Africa, Ashwin has a total of 38 wickets in just 8 innings at an average of 12.89.
As Ashwin removed Keshav Maharaj to bag his 6th wicket of the innings, he went past Harbhajan Singh’s tally (13) to bag the second most 6-fors for India in Tests with 14. Anil Kumble leads the list with 19.
As far as performances against South Africa are concerned, Ashwin has the most five-wicket-hauls against them for an Indian bowler. He went past Harbhajan Singh and Javagal Srinath to achieve this milestone.\
Ashwin trapped Kagiso Rabada in front of the stumps to bag his 7th wicket of the innings and wrap-up the South Africa tail on Saturday. Keshav Maharaj and Senuran Muthusamy frustrated the hosts in the morning session of Day 4 before being bundled for 431. The total meant that India could only take a 71-run lead into the second innings.
