Ravichandran Ashwin achieves a major milestone at MCG; goes past Muttiah Muralitharan
Indian spin wizard Ravichandran Ashwin surpassed legend Muttiah Muralitharan on Tuesday to become the bowler to dismiss the most number of left-handers in Test cricket.
Ashwin achieved this feat when he took Josh Hazlewood's wicket in Australia’s second innings at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He has now dismissed 192 left-handers - one more than the previous best, 191 by Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan.
Ravichandran Ashwin now has 375 Test wickets to his name at an average of 25.22 from 73 Test matches. He picked up two wickets in Australia’s second innings and three in the first in the recently concluded Melbourne Test.
Other bowlers in the list of most dismissals of left-handed batsmen are:
James Anderson (186)
Glenn McGrath (172)
Shane Warne (172)
Anil Kumble (167)
Ravichandran Ashwin's record in Tests for India
Ravichandran Ashwin is the third-highest wicket-taker for India among the spinners in Tests. He is only behind Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble, who have 417 and 619 wickets to their name respectively.
The 34-year-old off-spinner made his international debut in a One-day International against Sri Lanka in 2010 and received his Test debut in 2011 against the West Indies.
Since then, Ashwin has become a regular face in the Indian squad and has picked up 254 Test wickets at home at 22.80 from 43 Tests. He also has 121 wickets away from home at 30.30 from 30 Tests to his name.
Ashwin and co's match-winning performances help India register a win at the MCG
Backed by brilliant all-round performances, Team India bounced back in style to level the Border-Gavaskar series 2020-21 at 1-1. They lost the first Test in Adelaide by eight wickets.
India beat the Australia team by the same margin at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The Indian team was restricted to 36 for 9 - their lowest-ever Test score - after having led Australia in the first innings.
The remaining two Tests of the four-match series are scheduled to be played in Sydney and Brisbane.