Ashwin becomes second fastest to 200 Test wickets

Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Sunday became the second fastest bowler to claim 200 Test wickets, achieving the milestone in his 37th match.

Ashwin is just behind former Australian leg-spinner Clarrie Grimmett who took 36 Tests to achieve the feat, and ahead of Pakistani greats Waqar Younis and Australia’s Dennis Lillee, who both took 38 Tests to achieve the milestone.

The 30-year-old claimed his 200th wicket by dismissing New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson in Kanpur, where India are playing their 500th Test. ‘Kane Williamson is not a bad 200th scalp. I had a few good wickets in my career. AB de Villiers in Nagpur was very well set up,’ a delighted Ashwin told reporters.

The lanky spinner, who bowled Williamson in the first innings with a beautiful delivery that spun from outside the off stump, trapped the batsman lbw the second time around. ‘Kane Williamson’s wicket in the first innings of this match was a very good ball. Sangakkara in Sri Lanka… these are some of the wickets I cherish in my career and I hope I can create more in the future,’ he said.

The Chennai-born spinner also talked about Grimmett, who played for Australia between 1925-36, being a ‘better man’ than him when asked if he had any regrets about not being the fastest to the feat. ‘It’s fine. There are a lot of good things to look at. Lots of good memories in my 5-6 years of international cricket. Looking back and feeling sour is not the right way to go about it,’ he said.

Ashwin, who also became the fastest Indian and the first off-spinner to pick 200 Test wickets inside 40 Test matches, is currently ranked third in the International Cricket Council (ICC) ratings for Test bowlers.

Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan managed to take 200 wickets in 42 Tests, followed by Lance Gibbs of the West Indies, Pakistan’s Saqlain Mushtaq and India’s Harbhajan Singh.