“Veteran” off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who is making a comeback after almost 10 months, has shattered the records in the Test series against South Africa. On the third day of the second Test in Pune, South Africa’s first innings was reduced to 275 runs. Ashwin took four wickets in the innings and with this milestones, the Chennai lad took a special record to his name. Ashwin has joined the club of stalwarts like Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.
With four wickets in the first innings of the Pune Test match, R Ashwin reached the top of the charts in terms of taking four wickets in the Test matches against South Africa. Harbhajan took four wickets in his test career for seven times in Test matches against Proteas. Ashwin holds the record for taking four wickets eight times against South Africa.
Ashwin is currently at number four spot in the list of bowlers who completed 50 wickets in Test cricket against South Africa. Anil Kumble is at the top of the list with 81 wickets in 21 test matches, while Javagal Srinath takes the number two spot with 64 wickets in 13 matches. Harbhajan Singh takes the third spot with 60 wickets in 11 matches. Ashwin currently stands with 50 wickets in 9 test matches.
India in commanding position
Indian batters made the most of batting friendly conditions in Pune and scored 601/5 before declaring their innings. Virat Kohli was the top scorer for India with yet another double hundred(254), well supported by Ravinrdra Jadeja(91). Earlier, Mayank Agarwal also completed a century to put India in a commanding position.
South African batters faced utmost difficulty against the Indian pace attack. Umesh Yadav striked early and dismissed the top three batsman to put the visitors in all sorts of trouble. Faf Du Plessis and Quinton de Kock put up a 75 run partnership for 6th wicket but it was not enough to bring them back in the game.
After the dismissal of De Kock and Faf, things were looking good for India until lower order batsman Keshav Maharaj and Vernon Philander stamped their authority on the crease. They put up 109 runs partnership for the 9th wicket to frustrate the Indian bowlers but it was not enough to complete the par score to avoid follow on. Proteas were all out for 275 runs, with India still ahead in the game by 326 runs. It will be interesting to see if India enforces the follow on, come the 4th day of the test match.
