Ravichandran Ashwin Became Third off Spinner to Reach 500 Test Wickets

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for his remarkable achievement of reaching 500 Test wickets. During the third Test against England in Rajkot, Ashwin became the second Indian bowler, following in the footsteps of Anil Kumble, to achieve this feat.

• This achievement adds Ashwin's name to an elite list, with only two other off-spinners having surpassed the 500-wicket mark. 
• The retired Sri Lankan great, Muttiah Muralidaran, leads the pack with a staggering 800 wickets, followed by Australia's Nathan Lyon, who achieved this feat just last year with 517 wickets.
• Ashwin also accomplished a remarkable feat, becoming just the third off-spinner in history to reach the 500-wicket mark.
• He is still behind Anil Kumble in terms of total wickets taken, with Kumble having retired with an impressive 619 scalps to his name.
• The historic moment happened on the second day of the ongoing Test match. Ashwin required only one more wicket to achieve this milestone, which he attained by dismissing opener Zak Crawley. Crawley's mistimed sweep found its way into the safe hands of Rajat Patidar at short fine leg.
• Ashwin has become the ninth bowler in Test cricket history to reach this milestone, achieving the feat in his 97th Test.

Fastest to 500 Test wickets:

• Mutthiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka) in 87 matches
• Ravichandran Ashwin (India) in 98 matches
• Anil Kumble (India) in 105 matches
• Shane Warne (Australia) in 108 matches
• Glenn McGrath (Australia) in 110 matches
• Courtney Walsh (West Indies) in 129 matches
• James Anderson    (England) in 129 matches
• Stuart Broad (England) in 140 matches

About Ashwin

• Since his Test debut in 2011, Ashwin has made significant progress. The engineering graduate from Chennai initially began as a top-order batter and tried his hand at medium pace bowling, but he eventually settled for the role of an off-spinner due to a back injury he sustained during his teenage years. 
• After the Kumble and Harbhajan Singh era, Ashwin had enormous shoes to fill, but he has done so with incredible consistency. 
• In his first 16 Tests, Ashwin took nine five-wicket hauls, making him the fastest to reach 300 wickets.Apart from his impressive Test record, he has also proven his worth in limited-overs cricket. Ashwin has played 116 ODIs, in which he has taken 156 wickets, and he has 72 wickets to his name in 65 T20I matches.