India’s ace bowler Ravichandran Ashwin is currently in a red-hot avatar. He has been shattering records in every match he has been playing off lately. Currently, playing in the ongoing second Test match between India vs New Zealand, he has created another big record in the longest format of the game.
On Sunday, when Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed Ross Taylor, he completed his 50th Test wicket this year, making him the first player to get to the mark. Ravi Ashwin took all the three wickets of the Kiwis that have fallen so far, adding to the four that he picked during the first innings. His brilliant efforts with the ball have helped team India dismiss New Zealand for only 62 runs in the first innings. This was the lowest total any team has managed to score against Team India in the history of the longest format of the game.
Meanwhile, Ravi Ashwin is currently the highest wicket-taker of 2021. Pakistan fast bowler Shaheen Afridi is closest to him with 44 wickets while Hasan Ali is third on the list with 39 wickets.
Here, check out the top-5 wicket-takers of 2021:
1. R Ashwin: Wickets-51, Matches-8*
2. Shaheen Shah Afridi: Wickets-44, Matches-9*
3. Hasan Ali: Wickets-39, Matches-8*
4. AR Patel: Wickets-35, Matches-5*
5. JM Anderson: Wickets-35, Matches-10
Ravi Ashwin, on Sunday, also equaled all-around great Richard Hadlee for most wickets in India vs New Zealand fixture. Ross Taylor became Ashwin’s 65th wicket in this fixture. While Hadlee took 24 innings to reach the mark, Ashwin got there in 17 innings.
Apart from this, Ravi Ashwin is also one short of his 300th Test wicket on Indian soil. If gets this wicket on Day 4, he’ll then need 51 more wickets to go past the legendary bowler Anil Kumble to be the most successful bowler in India.
