Ravichandran Ashwin said he is not thinking about milestones and that he has been enjoying playing for the country in the recent past when asked if he had set sights on leg spinner Anil Kumble’s tally of 619 Test wickets.
Ravichandran Ashwin on Saturday said landmarks and milestones are not in his mind anymore and that he is enjoying his game at the moment. Ravichandran Ashwin responded when the Indian off-spinner was asked if he has set sights on Anil Kumble’s Indian record for the most Test wickets.
Ravichandran Ashwin Became 2nd Fastest Bowler To Breach 400 Test Wicket Mark
Ravichandran Ashwin became the second-fastest bowler after former Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan to get to 400 Test wickets when he got England tailender Jofra Archer’s wicket in the Pink-ball Test against England in Ahmedabad on Thursday. He finished the Test with 7 wickets and was happy to play the supporting role to young left-arm spinner Axar Patel who clinched his maiden 10-wicket match haul as early as his 2nd Test.
Ravichandran Ashwin has 401 wickets from 77 Tests at an average of 24.05 but the 34-year-old spinner said landmarks and milestones are not in his mind anymore.
“If you look at it pragmatically, it’s 218 wickets away. For me, I have stopped thinking about all those landmarks and all long, long time ago,” Ashwin said.
Ravichandran Ashwin is the second-fastest bowler to breach the 400-wicket milestone in the longest format of the game. He recently achieved the landmark in 77 Tests and is only behind Muttiah Muralitharan, who did so in 72 matches. He has 401 scalps and is only behind Anil Kumble (619), Kapil Dev (434), and Harbhajan Singh (417) among India’s leading wicket-takers.
Axar Patel is on a dream run taking 18 wickets in his first two Tests averaging a meagre 9.44. After bagging a maiden five-wicket-haul on his Test debut at Chennai, Axar Patel was unplayable and finished with 11 wickets in the match – 6/38 in the first innings and 5/32 in the second – as India bundled out England for 112 and 81 in the two innings.
Ravichandran Ashwin Looking To Get Better As An Individual And Cricketer
Ravichandran Ashwin said he is looking to improve every time he steps on the field and he wants to contribute to the team in whatever way possible, considering he is no longer a regular in the shorter formats of the game. Ravichandran Ashwin last played an ODI and T20I in 2017.
“It’s been about what I can do, how I can get better, what more I can offer to the team because every time you come back into this setup, especially now that I am only playing Test cricket, it’s important to come back and offer to the team,” he added.
“I am looking to get better as an individual and cricketer. That’s probably one of the reasons why I am really, really happy and I am enjoying my game and probably the best I have done in the last 15 years. I would like to continue this phase and not think about too much else.”
He is on top of the wicket-taking charts in the ongoing 4-match Test series with 24 wickets in 3 matches against England averaging 15.71. He is also third on the list of run-scorers with 176, including a hundred averaging 35.2. The all-rounder has played an integral role in helping India coming back from behind after losing the 1st Test and take a 2-1 lead.
India will be looking to make it 3-1 when they take on England in the 4th and final Test in Ahmedabad from March 4. A win or even a draw is enough for Virat Kohli‘s men to seal their spot in the final of the World Test Championship.