India vs Sri Lanka: Ravichandran Ashwin becomes fastest to reach 300 Test wickets
The 31-year old spinner took just 54 Test matches to break the record of former Australia fast bowler Dennis Lillee who achieved the landmark in 56 Tests.
India's bowling spearhead Ravichandran Ashwin achieved yet another milestone when he became the fastest to 300 Test wickets during the second Test against Sri Lanka in Nagpur. The 31-year old spinner took just 54 Test matches to break the record of former Australia fast bowler Dennis Lillee who achieved the landmark in 56 Tests.
Lillee achieved the landmark on this day in 1981 against Pakistan in Brisbane.
Ashwin completed the feat on the fourth day of Nagpur Test during the second innings when he claimed the wicket of Lahiru Gamage. He picked up a four-for in 2nd innings and bagged eight important wickets in the match to help the hosts script a massive win against the Islanders by an innings and 239 runs.
Ashwin is only the fifth Indian bowler to complete a career 300 wickets in Test cricket behind Anil Kumble (619), Kapil Dev (434), Harbhajan Singh (417) and Zaheer Khan (311). The illustrious trio of Bishan Singh Bedi (266), Bhagwat Chandrasekhar (242) and Erapalli Prasanna (189) are way behind Ashwin.
Ranked number four in the world, Ashwin made his debut for India in November 2011 and since then has been India's main strike bowler in the longer format in the last three years. In the recent times, the Chennai-born offie has not been a regular in India's limited-overs squads but he is Kohli's go-to-man when it comes to the traditional format.
Ashwin also became the fastest to 2000 runs and 300 wickets in Tests. Former New Zealand all-rounder Richard Hadlee was the previous record holder having achieved this feat in his 61st Test.
Ashwin dominated the Test circuit for two successive years - 2015 and 2016, he finished as the top wicket-taker in both the years. He snared 62 wickets in nine Tests in 2015 and pocketed another 72 from 12 Tests the following year.
In this year, Ashwin has so far picked over 50 Tests wickets and has a great chance to finish on top for the third year in a row by performing well in the third Test in Delhi.
Interestingly, Ashwin had also broken Lillee's record to become the fastest to 250 Test wickets, during the one-off Test against Bangladesh earlier this year.