India’s Ravichandran Ashwin completes 300 wickets in Test Cricket

India’s premier spinner Ravichandran Ashwin added another milestone in his career by becoming quickest bowler to reach 300 wickets (54 games) in Test cricket. Before the start of the series Sri Lanka, Ashwin needed another 8 wickets to reach the landmark.

The first game of the series played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata was largely in favor of fast bowlers as Ashwin did not bowl much. He came back strongly in the second game at Nagpur by picking up four wickets to restrict to just 205 runs in their first innings. He also picked up another four wickets to complete his 300 wickets in Test cricket. He went to break Dennis Lillee’s record of reaching 300 wickets in just 54 matches as compared to Australian’s (56 games).Dennis Lillee also completed his 300-wicket in 1981 which was almost 36 years ago.

It was amazing achievement for the off-spinner as he was join illustrious league of bowlers who did compete it with minimum number of matches. Malcolm Marshall, Dale Steyn and Richard Hadlee all completed 300 wickets in 61 games while Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan achieved the landmark in 58 matches.

Ravichandran Ashwin also has 502 wickets to his name across all three formats while playing for India. He also became the sixth bowler to reach 500 wickets at the international level for India, joining the likes of Kapil Dev, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and Anil Kumble.

Ashwin also completed was the quickest reach in 250 wickets in Test cricket. He was able to beat Australia’s Dennis Lillee record. He has enjoyed best run of form with the bat and taken 182 wickets under Virat Kohli as leader of the side. He also has produced impeccable form with the ball in the five-day format by picking 50 wickets for third successive year.Kagiso Rabada, Rangana Herath and Ravichandran Ashwin are leading wicket takers in Test cricket for this current year.