Kanpur, Nov 30, : , India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin thanked Harbhajan Singh, saying that he was inspired to bowl off-spin after watching Bhajji’s “wonderful spell”, against Australia in 2001. On Monday, Ashwin moved past Harbhajan’s total of 417 wickets and became India’s third highest wicket-taker in Test cricket with 419 wickets on the final day at the Green Park here.
The Test against New Zealand ended in a thrilling draw.
After dismissing Will Young on Day 4, the 35-year old had equalled Harbhajan’s total of 417 wickets in Tests.To surpass Harbhajan’s record of 417 wickets in Tests, Ashwin dismissed Tom Latham in New Zealand’s second innings.
It’s a great milestone.Harbhajan Singh was bowling a wonderful spell against Australia in 2001.I never imagined that I would become an off-spinner that day.But he inspired me and I picked up the ball to play off-spin.”Thank you for inspiring me Bhajji Pa,” Ashwin said in a video that was shared by the Board of Control for Cricket in India on Tuesday.
Ashwin now trails Anil Kumble (619), and Kapil Dev (434) in India’s all time list of highest Test wicket-takers.
Ashwin is the fourth Indian cricketer to take over 400 wickets.Monday’s feat made Ashwin the 13th highest wicket-taker of Tests, surpassing Wasim Akram (414).He is third among active cricketers in taking Test wickets, behind James Anderson and Stuart Broad, who have 524 wickets and 632, respectively.
Ashwin, who made his Test debut against the West Indies in November 2011, has claimed his wickets at an average of 24.5 and a strike rate 52.4.
Shreyas Iyer, who lit up Green Park with the bat and scored a century-and-half on debut, recalled an incident that occurred during the second edition Indian Premier League (IPL).He said that Ashwin had approached him at Wankhede, seeking his advice on wind direction.
“In the second year IPL, I was the ballboy and Ashwin approached me asking ‘arreek minute idhar, yeh kaun se direction hai, zarabata do (please come to me for a moment and tell me which direction the wind blows)’.I was confident.I had played too many matches on the Wankhede at that time.
I said to him, “idhar me aata hai,” idhar si.the sea is heading in that direction (The wind will flow in the same direction as the sea is going in) Iyer recalled that the wind will only come from this direction.
Ashwin also congratulated Iyer on becoming the first Indian cricketer to score a century, half-century, and Test debut.He said, “Congratulations to you (Iyer), for becoming the first Indian cricketer to score a hundred, a half-century, and Test debut.” We look forward to you scoring a hundred and taking the honours (in the second test).
Despite his achievement, Iyer is not a certain selection for the second Test.
Virat Kohli will be returning as the skipper in Mumbai.
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