cricket

Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has become the second quickest bowler in the world to claim 400 Test wickets.

Ravichandran Ashwin reached the landmark when he dismissed Jofra Archer lbw for a duck on Day 2 of the pink-ball Test against England in Ahmedabad.

The Indian bowler, playing in his 77th Test, went past Sir Richard Hadlee and Dale Steyn, who took 80 Tests each to reach the landmark. Muttiah Muralitharan leads the list of bowlers who have been quickest to 400 Test wickets. The Sri Lankan spin legend got to the mark in 72 Tests.

Ravichandran Ashwin, who picked up three wickets in England’s first innings, pocketed four more dismissals at the time of filing this report, as the visitors crumbled to 80/9 in their second innings.

After Axar Patel ran through the top order with four wickets, Ravichandran Ashwin joined the act by dismissing Ben Stokes once again. The England all-rounder was trapped lbw for 25, with one that straightened from around the wicket.

Not long after, he cleaned up Ollie Pope for 12 as the batsman completely misread the line of the ball. Ravichandran Ashwin then claimed his 400th wicket as Jofra Archer couldn’t offer any resistance to a yorker length delivery.

Ravichandran Ashwin becomes fourth Indian bowler to claim 400 Test victims

Ravichandran Ashwin has become only the fourth Indian to claim 400 Test wickets. Kapil Dev (434), Anil Kumble (619) and Harbhajan Singh (417) were the ones to get there before him on the illustrious list.

Also, if he picks up one more five-wicket haul, Ravichandran Ashwin (29) will join James Anderson (30) on the list of bowlers with most five-fors in Test cricket.

Meanwhile, India were bowled out for 145 in reply to England’s first innings total of 112. England skipper Joe Root was the surprise hero for England with sensational figures of 5/8 in 6.2 overs.

With his five-for in Ahmedabad on Thursday, Joe Root became the first England captain to take a five-wicket haul in a Test match since Bob Willis in 1983; Willis had claimed 5/35 against New Zealand.

England had crumbled to 80/9 in their second innings as Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin carried on the spinners’ domination in the Pink-Ball Test.