Ashwin levelled the tally of wickets with Harbhajan when he dismissed New Zealand opener Will Young towards the end of the fourth day. The right-armer then removed Tom Latham to get his 418th Test scalp.
It all happened during the 55th over of New Zealand’s second innings when the Tamil Nadu cricketer bowled a quicker delivery that shattered the stumps of Latham. Ashwin picked up three scalps in the second innings.
Ashwin is the fourth Indian bowler to take more than 400 wickets in the red-ball format. He also became the 13th highest Test wicket-taker of all time. When it comes to the active Test cricketers, Ashwin is the third-highest wicket-taker after England’s Stuart Broad (524) and James Anderson (632).
Most wickets in Test cricket for India:
- 619 – Anil Kumble
- 434 – Kapil Dev
- 419 – Ravichandran Ashwin
- 417 – Harbhajan Singh
- 311 – Ishant Sharma
Harbhajan, who was pushed to the fourth spot by Ashwin, congratulated the Chennai-lad for reaching a special feat. The former India off-spinner took to Twitter and wished Ashwin to reach more landmarks in the longest format.
“Congratulations, @ashwinravi99 wish you many more, brother.. God bless.. keep shining,” tweeted Bhajji.
Further, Harbhajan also spoke about the comparisons with Ashwin and said he never believed in such things.
“Congratulations to @ashwinravi99 on his milestone. Wish he wins many more matches for the country. Never believed in comparisons. I did my best for the country during my time, and Ashwin has done his best during his,” Harbhajan told PTI.
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