"Never had the slightest of ideas" - Ravichandran Ashwin on overtaking Kapil Dev's wicket tally
Ravichandran Ashwin overtook Kapil Dev's tally of 434 wickets on the last day of the first Test against Sri Lanka to become the second-highest wicket-taker for India in the longest format. Following this achievement, he expressed his gratitude for everything that the sport of cricket has given him.
Taking to his official Instagram handle, Ravichandran Ashwin described how he cheered Kapil Dev on when the latter broke the world record for the most wickets in Test cricket.
He captioned his post thus:
"28 years ago, I was cheering the great Kapil Dev on to get his world record tally of wickets. I never had the slightest of ideas that I would become an off spinner, play for my country, and even manage to go past the great man's tally of wickets."
The 35-year old off-spinner further wrote on his post:
"I am delighted and very grateful to what this game has given me so far. #blessed #gratitude.".
Ravichandran Ashwin stars with 6 wickets and 50 in Mohali Test
India wrapped up their victory in the first Test against Sri Lanka on day 3 of the game. They won the match by a whopping margin of an innings and 222 runs against the visitors at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali, thereby gaining a 1-0 lead in the series.
Skipper Rohit Sharma's tenure as India's Test captain got off to the perfect start with the hosts racking up 574/8 in the first innings. Ravindra Jadeja top-scored with an unbeaten 175 while Rishabh Pant cracked a 97-ball 96.
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Thank you so much Paijee. A text message from you made my day even sweeter🤩 twitter.com/sachin_rt/stat…
In reply, Sri Lanka collapsed to be all-out in both their innings, with scores of 174 and 178, in under two days. Jadeja scalped 9 wickets in the game after scoring a century and bagged the Player of the Match award.
Ravichandran Ashwin also had a great match. He first stroked an 82-ball 61 in the first innings, sharing a 130-run stand with Jadeja. Then, he combined with the same player while bowling to wreak havoc on the Lankan batsmen. Ashwin picked up 2 wickets in the first and 4 in the second innings.
The off-spinner dismissed Charith Asalanka to pick up his 435th Test wicket, before going on to get one more in the match. The Tamil Nadu all-rounder is now eighth in the all-time wicket-takers' list in Test cricket, with Anil Kumble the only Indian ahead of him, with 619 scalps.