R Ashwin achieved his 37th five-wicket haul in Test cricket as after going wicketless in the first innings, the veteran all-rounder returned to his best in the fourth innings of the opening clash against Bangladesh at his home ground in Chennai on Sunday, September 22. Ashwin walked away with figures of 6/88 and his 10th Player of the Match award in Tests as he batted and bowled India to a huge 280-run win against Bangladesh, helping his side take a 1-0 lead in the series.
Ashwin equalled the late great Shane Warne, recording the joint-most five-wicket hauls in Test cricket (37). Sri Lankan legend Muttiah Muralitharan is still at the top with 67 fifers and it seems that one will stay for a lifetime. On the way to his six-fer, Ashwin also went past West Indies legend Courtney Walsh (519) on the list of leading wicket-takers in Test cricket. Ashwin now has 522 wickets to his name and is eighth on the list now.
Most five-wicket hauls in Test cricket
67 - Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka) in 230 innings
37 - R Ashwin (India) in 191 innings*
37 - Shane Warne (Australia) in 273 innings
36 - Sir Richard Hadlee (New Zealand) in 150 innings
35 - Anil Kumble (India) in 236 innings
Ashwin also became only the second player in Test cricket history after Sir Ian Botham to score a century and take a fifer in the same match on four different occasions. Botham is at the top for doing it five times while Ashwin is the only one to do it twice at the same venue as he scored 106 and took 5/43 against England in Chennai in 2021.'
India have taken a 1-0 lead in the two-match Test series and have gone with an unchanged squad for the second and final game in Kanpur, starting September 27.
