Spin bowling spearhead Ravichandran Ashwin, in the Bengaluru Test against Australia, achieved a highly special milestone as he overtook left-arm spinner Bishan Singh Bedi to become the 5th leading wicket-taker for India in the longest format. Ashwin entered the top five of the elite list headed by current coach Anil Kumble with the wicket of Mitchell Starc in the final session of Day 4 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. Starc’s wicket, the fourth of Ashwin’s match-winning spell of 6/41, took him ahead of Bedi, who took 266 wickets in 67 Tests.
A day earlier, Ashwin also pocketed a small yet significant record when he broke his Anil Kumble’s record of most balls bowled in a Test season, by sending down 3,749 balls till the end of Australian innings. However, in terms of wickets, he’s still away by a great margin at the moment.
Kumble occupies the top spot with 619 wickets in 132 Tests in his career. The Karnataka leg-spinner remains the highest wicket taker for India. Following him is India’s most successful all-rounder, Kapil Dev, who finished his career with 434 wickets in 131 Tests.
Harbhajan Singh, Ashwin’s predecessor in the Test team, sits at third place with 417 wickets in 103 Tests. While Zaheer Khan, the greatest left-arm fast bowler India has ever produced, sits one place ahead with 311 scalps in 92 Tests.
While Ashwin maybe far away from getting ahead of the top three legends in the list, the astonishing fact is the pace at which he has snapped the wickets. The off spinner currently holed the record for being the fastest Indian to reach the 100, 150 and 200 wicket milestones and is well set to own the fastest to the 300 wicket mark as well in a matter of few Tests.