Watch: Ravichandran Ashwin adds his name to special list with first-ball wicket of Rory Burns
Ravichandran Ashwin has a knack for picking wickets with the new ball.
On Monday, he became the first spinner in over 100 years to take a wicket off the first ball of an innings in Test cricket.
BCCI uploaded the video of Ravichandran Ashwin’s historic scalp on their website, celebrating the special occasion. You can watch the video here:
The off-spinner achieved the feat in the 2nd innings of the India vs England Test in Chennai.
Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed opener Rory Burns with a peach of a delivery, becoming the first spinner since 1907 to pick up a wicket off the first ball of a Test innings.
The last spinner to pick up a wicket on the first ball of an innings was Bert Vogler. The South African leg-spinner had dismissed England’s Tom Hayward at the Oval in 1907.
Bobby Peel was another spinner who got a wicket off the first ball of a Test innings, who achieved the feat for England in 1888.
Ravichandran Ashwin dismisses Rory Burns twice in Chennai
Ravichandran Ashwin has now sent Rory Burns packing in both the innings of the ongoing India v England Test. Burns was dismissed trying to reverse sweep Ravichandran Ashwin on day 1.
This time, Burns succumbed to Ashwin while trying to defend the delivery.
Coming from around the wicket, Ashwin got one to spin away with a steep bounce. The England opener was tempted into defending but instead could just edge it to Ajinkya Rahane at slip.
Ravichandran Ashwin followed that up with the wicket of Dominic Sibley a few overs later. With the off-spinner getting some great purchase off the pitch, expect him to play a crucial role with the new ball.