India’s Ravichandran Ashwin has joined the elite list of bowlers to scalp 500 wickets in Test format after achieving the feat on Day 2 of the Rajkot Test on Friday (Feb 16). Ashwin, playing in the 98th Test against England joined Anil Kumble as the only other bowler from India to reach the 500-wicket mark. The achievement also makes him the ninth bowler to achieve this feat and the third active player after Nathan Lyon (517) and James Anderson (696) to break into the record list.

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Ashwin joins 500-wicket club

Entering the third Test match with 499 Test wickets, Ashwin needed one more wicket to join the 500-wicket club. On the first ball of the 14th over, Ashwin’s delivery was misjudged by Zak Crawley who ended up handing a simple catch to Rajat Patidar, and giving the veteran spinner his 500th Test wicket.

He now joins the likes of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Anderson in the list of players to achieve this milestone.

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Players with most wickets for India

Anil Kumble – 619 Wickets in 132 Matches

Ravichandran Ashwin – 500 Wickets in 98 Matches

Kapil Dev – 434 Wickets in 131 Matches

Harbhajan Singh – 417 Wickets in 103 Matches

Ishant Sharma – 311 Wickets in 105 Matches

Zaheer Khan – 311 Wickets in 92 Matches

Ashwin, 37, now in the twilight of his career will look to add more wickets to his tally with two good years still in hand considering his fitness.

What happened on Day 2?

While Ashwin was writing his name in the history books, India started Day 2 at 326/5 as Ravindra Jadeja was the first wicket to fall. The veteran all-rounder scored 112 before getting out in the opening session. Dhruv Jurel, on debut, scored 46 and was given a helping hand from Ashwin with the bat which led India to a score of 400 plus.

Mark Wood ended with four wickets while Rehan Ahmed bagged figures of 85/2. While Anderson, Tom Hartley and Joe Root, got a wicket each with Jadeja falling prey to the latter.

At the time of writing, England made a solid start to their first innings on Day 2 and were 192/2 in 30 overs as Ben Duckett scored the fastest Test hundred for England against India. 

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