Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin spun a web around Sri Lanka batters in the Mohali Test.© BCCI
Ravichandran Ashwin on Sunday went past Kapil Dev’s tally of 434 wickets to become the second highest Indian wicket-taker of all-time in Test cricket. Ashwin achieved the feat by dismissing Charith Asalanka on the third day of India’s opening Test against Sri Lanka in Mohali. India registered a thumping win by an innings and 222 runs after bowling out Sri Lanka for 174 and 178 in the first and second innings, respectively, having themselves declared their first innings at 574/8. Ashwin finished the Test with another wicket to take his overall Test tally to 436 scalps.
Speaking after the game, Ashwin praised Ravindra Jadeja, who scored an unbeaten 175 with the bat, picked five wickets in Sri Lanka’s first innings and four in the second.
Ashwin revealed that Jadeja and himself sacrificed a few overs to give Jayant Yadav, the third spinner in the side, more bowling time.
The veteran spinner said that skipper Rohit Sharma wanted to give a few overs to Jayant and it was Jadeja who first gave up his overs.
“In between, we both realised that Jayant hadn’t bowled a lot. For someone who is going to be a third spinner in the team, and he has been the third spinner for a while now, it’s sometimes very hard — doesn’t get a long enough spell sometimes. So Rohit also wanted to make sure that he got a bit of bowling,” Ashwin said on Star Sports after the game.
Promoted
“It takes a few overs for the spinners to bowl and it was basically (a question of) who was going to give up a few overs at that point of time. Jaddu (Jadeja) decided that he would give him a go from the other side where there was a little bit more spin,” he added.
“And then a little while later, I had to give up on the other side. Sometimes it’s not that easy being the third spinner in a side and we wanted to look after him a little bit. Jaddu was really magnanimous enough to first give the ball away.”
Topics mentioned in this article