Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Friday for the “extraordinary milestone” of taking 500 Test wickets. Ashwin turned the second Indian bowler after Anil Kumble to take 500 Test wickets throughout the third Test in opposition to England in Rajkot on Friday. The Prime Minister stated on X, “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.”

Congratulations to Ravichandran Ashwin on the extraordinary milestone of taking 500 Test wickets! His journey and accomplishments are testomony to his talent and perseverance. My greatest needs to him as he scales additional peaks. @ashwinravi99

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 16, 2024

Ashwin additionally turned solely the third off-spinner to attain the feat and continues to be the second highest wicket-taker for India behind Kumble, who ended his profession with 619 scalps.

The 37-year-old reached the milestone on day two of the continuing Test. He wanted only one wicket for the feat and that got here in the way in which of opener Zak Crawley, who mis-timed a sweep which landed within the secure fingers of Rajat Patidar at brief fantastic leg.

This was after India have been earlier bowled out for 445 of their first innings.

The solely different off-spinners who’ve touched the five hundred wickets mark are retired Sri Lanka nice Muttiah Muralidaran (800) and Australia’s Nathan Lyon (517), who did it final yr.

Overall, Ashwin is simply the ninth bowler to take 500 wickets within the conventional format, scaling the landmark in his 97th Test.

Having made his Test debut in 2011, Ashwin has come a good distance.

The engineering graduate from Chennai began out as a top-order batter and tried his hand at medium tempo bowling earlier than settling for the position of an off-spinner, a choice that was compelled by a again damage throughout his teenage years.

Following the Kumble and Harbhajan Singh period, Ashwin had huge footwear to fill and he has accomplished that with outstanding consistency.

In his first 16 Tests, Ashwin snared 9 five-wicket hauls and have become the quickest to the 300 wickets membership.

Ashwin has additionally proved his price within the shorter codecs, having performed 116 ODIs for his 156 wickets within the format. He has 72 wickets in 65 T20 International appearances.

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