R Ashwin became the fastest bowler to take 300 wickets in Test cricket by achieving the feat in the 54 Tests, two better than Dennis Lillee who held the record till Monday. The Indian spinner bowled Lahiru Gamage, the last Sri Lankan wicket, to bowl India to a win by an innings and 239 runs in Nagpur.
Ashwin has now expressed his desire to take his wicket count in Test cricket to atleast 600 and he believes he can do it given that he has only played 54 Test matches.
“I really hope I can go on to double these 300 wickets, I’ve only played 50 (54) Tests. It’s not easy bowling spin, it looks like you’re just ambling up. But there’s a lot behind it. We’ve bowled a lot of overs, me and Jaddu. And the break has helped, I’m a lot more fresher now comparatively,” Ashwin said after India’s win.
Ashwin was dropped from the Indian ODI and T20I teams recently and that gave him a longer break from international cricket. India only picked him for Tests and Ashwin said that it was a break longer than what he is used to.
The off-spinner picked up eight wickets in the match and was the chief destroyer for India. Explaining India’s bowling, Ashwin said that they bowled in the right areas.
“Today was a bit funny in the morning,” R Ashwin says. “We started off and the ball spun a little bit, it kept straight as well. Special mention to Ishant, he’s bowled really well after coming back. The angular release also makes it difficult, changing the height of the release has also helped. And me and Jaddu bowl the right pace on these kinds of wickets,” he said.
Alongwith Jadeja, Ashwin has established himself as one of the great spinners India have seen but he says that they are more blessed than other greats because they have technology to help.
“We are a bit more blessed than the other greats. We have technology to help. We have help with our fitness. So we shouldn’t compare. The carrom ball was a good ball, I haven’t bowled many of those in the last 24 months,” he said. ( Courtesy Indian Express)
