Indian veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin became the latest entrant to join the elusive club of 500 Test wickets during the Day 2 of the ongoing third Test against England at Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot on Friday, February 16.
Ashwin became just the second Indian bowler after Anil Kumble (619) and the ninth overall to achieve the historic milestone in the history of Test Cricket. Former Sri Lanka spin bowling legend Muthiah Muralitharan tops the chart with 800 wickets, followed by the late Shane Warne with 708 wickets. England veteran pacer James Anderson is the leading wicket-taker among fast bowlers in Tests, with 696* scalps.
Ravichandran Ashwin entered the 500 Test wickets club when struck his first wicket of the innings after Zak Crawley tried to go for a sweep shot but got a top edge and Rajat Patidar caught it in the in-field.
As soon as Ravichandran Ashwin completed the 500th Test wicket, entire stadium erupted in joy and social media went into frenzy with fans applauding the veteran off-spinner for achieving the milestone.
However, Ashwin received special praise from Indian fratnerity, including the likes of legendary Sachin Tendulkar, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravi Shastri, Jhulan Goswami, Robin Uthappa, Anil Kumble, Aakash Chopra and many others.
Tendulkar took to his X handle (formerly Twitter) and hailed Ashwin as 'one in a million bowler' to complete historic feat, while Ravi Shastri came up with a unique line to sum up Ashwin's journey to 500 Test wickets.
Here's how Indian cricket fraternity reacted to Ashwin's 500th Test wicket
Past milestones achieves by Ravichandran Ashwin
500th Test wicket is the latest milestone added to Ravichandran Ashwin's illustrious Test career. However, the veteran spinner has numerous achievements and records to his name during his 12-year career in the format thus far.
Ashwin was the fastest bowler to take 250 and 300 wickets and joint-quickest to take 350 wickets alongside spin-bowling great Muthiah Muralitharan. The 37-year-old was the fastest Indian to 400 and 450 wickets in the format.
The Chennai-born cricketer has won 10 Man of the Series awards, most by any Indian cricketer in Tests and the second most after Muralitharan (11). Ravi Ashwin is the highest-ranked Indian bowler in Test Cricket, with ratings of 904 in 2016.
In the first Test against England in Hyderabad, Ravichandran Ashwin capped another record as he and Ravindra Jadeja became the highest wicket-taker by an Indian bowling pair in Tests, surpassing Anil Anil Kumble and Harbhajan's tally of 501 wickets.
Ravichandran Ashwin made his Test debut for India in November 2011. Since then, the off-spinner has been a regular member in India’s playing XI. Following the retirement of Anil Kumble, Ashwin has been the premier spinner in the Indian red-ball team.
