Ravichandran Ashwin has been arguably the best off-spinner in the last decade. He has been an absolute matchwinner for India with the red ball in his hand. In his long and illustrious career, he has shattered a lot of records in test cricket and one of those records was shattered on this day as he became the fastest bowler to 300 test wickets in 2017 against Sri Lanka at Nagpur.
First innings
In the second test of the series Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first. But they could not get a solid start as the opener, Sadeera Samarawickrama, was dismissed early in the innings. Ravi Ashwin soon came into the action and gave the second blow to Sri Lanka by outfoxing Lahiru Thirimanne with his spin. The rest of the wickets that Ashwin got in the innings came in the latter half. Dasun Shanaka became Ashwin’s second wicket who had no answers to the puzzling questions put up by the off-spinner. He followed it up with another two wickets from Dinesh Chandimal and Rangana Herath to wind up the Sri Lankan innings. Sri Lanka could only score 205 runs in the first innings.
Second Innings
In reply, India put up 610 runs to get an edge in the contest. To amplify Sri Lanka’s worries Ravi Ashwin came up with another spin masterclass. He picked up another 4 wickets to bowl Sri Lanka out for 166 runs in the second innings. In this innings, he mostly got the wickets of lower-order batters including Dasun Shanaka, Dilruwan Perera, Rangana Herath, and Lahiru Gamage. As a result of this supreme bowling display, India won the match by an innings and 239 runs. Ravi Ashwin surpassed the great Dennis Lillee to become the fastest bowler to take 300 wickets. Lillee collected 300 wickets in 56 matches whereas Ashwin achieved this feat in just 54 test matches. Among the spinners, Ashwin overtook Muttiah Muralidaran, who took as many wickets in 58 matches.