Ravichandran Ashwin became the first Indian to take 100 wickets against England, dismissing Jonny Bairstow in the first innings in the Ranchi Test.
A modern-day legend, Ravichandran Ashwin climbed a new peak on Day 1 of the fourth Test against England in Ranchi. The experienced spinner took his 100th Test wicket against England, dismissing Jonny Bairstow LBW in the morning session. In the process, Ashwin became the first Indian to take 100 wickets against England in the game’s longest format. Ashwin accomplished the milestone in his 23rd Test against the English. The famous Shane Warne leads the chart, having taken 195 wickets against England in 36 Tests.
Following Ashwin, the next Indian on the list was BS Chandrasekhar, who took 95 wickets against England in 23 matches. Anil Kumble is third on the list, taking 92 wickets in 19 matches.
Although Ashwin is classified as a spinner, he has occasionally performed admirably with the bat. The Tamil Nadu-born cricketer became the first Asian spinner to take 100 wickets against England while simultaneously scoring 1000 runs with the bat.
Ashwin became the second Indian bowler after Anil Kumble to take 500 Test wickets in the third Test against England in Rajkot, a feat that means a lot to the senior off-spinner after going through a period when he didn’t know how to get out of the “dark tunnel” he had entered.
/\Ashwin also became only the third off-spinner to reach the milestone, and he remains India’s second-highest wicket-taker behind Kumble, who retired with 619 scalps.
On the second day of the continuing test, the 37-year-old reached the milestone. He only needed one wicket to complete the feat, which came from opener Zak Crawley, who mistimed a sweep that fell into the safe hands of Rajat Patidar at short fine leg.
The urge to improve and adapt has always been ingrained in Ravichandran Ashwin’s fundamental being, but between 2018 and 2019, the ace spinner felt as if it was all over for him, leave alone the prospect of 500 Test wickets.
