Ravichandran Ashwin became the ninth bowler in the world and only the second Indian to take 500 Test wickets. Among Indians, only legendary leg-spinner Anil Kumble with 619 wickets is ahead of the Tamil Nadu off-spinner.
He accomplished this feat on Day 2 of the Rajkot Test against England by taking the wicket of opener Zak Crawley, which broke the dangerous opening stand of 89 runs between Crawley and Ben Duckett, who clobbered a sensational 88-ball century to help England take an upper hand in the game.
Ravichandran Ashwin got showered with praises from everyone, not only in the cricket fraternity but from India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, too.
PM Modi lavished rich praises on the 37-year-old off-spinner on his incredible feat of 500 Test wickets, recorded at an average of 23.94; only two of the 8 bowlers above him on the wickets list have a better average than him.
PM Narendra Modi tweeted, “Congratulations to Ravichandran Ashwin on the extraordinary milestone of taking 500 Test wickets! His journey and accomplishments are testament to his skill and perseverance. My best wishes to him as he scales further peaks. @ashwinravi99″
Congratulations to Ravichandran Ashwin on the extraordinary milestone of taking 500 Test wickets! His journey and accomplishments are testament to his skill and perseverance. My best wishes to him as he scales further peaks. @ashwinravi99
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 16, 2024
I was an accidental spinner; wanted to be a batter: Ravichandran Ashwin
Ashwin had started out as an opener. He touched upon his journey from an opener to a spin legend. He explained CSK’s role in him becoming an off-spinner.
“It’s been a very long journey,” Ashwin said. “I don’t exactly know where to begin because I was an accidental spinner. I wanted to be a batter all along. Life gave me a chance, and when I walked into the CSK dressing room, Muthiah Muralidaran didn’t want to bowl with the new ball, and eventually I got tossed the new ball. I had a reasonable first-class start to my life. First-class career was pretty good, but nevertheless, the stage in the IPL made me visible to a lot of people, and I eventually got my Test debut. People doubted whether I could be a Test bowler, and yeah, 10-13 years later, not bad. Not a bad achievement, so I’m pretty glad.”
It was a bittersweet day for Ravichandran Ashwin. Even though he got to his 500th Test wicket, he leaked 37 runs in 7 overs as Duckett whacked the Indian spinners en route to his jaw-dropping century.
Duckett’s blistering knock of 133* runs in 118 balls meant England wiped out 207 runs from the original deficit of 445 runs in only 35 overs. They have 8 wickets in hand and India will need Ashwin to make early inroads on Day 3.
Also Read: “Rula diya…” – Suryakumar Yadav Shared A Heartfelt Story For R Ashwin Post His 500 Test Wickets Feat
