Nagpur: Indian spin king Ravichandran Ashwin said on Monday he wanted to double his tally of 300 Test wickets after becoming the fastest bowler to the mark against Sri Lanka.
Ashwin surpassed Australia’s pace legend Dennis Lillee, achieving the milestone in his 54th Test. Lillee took 56 matches to reach the same mark.
“I really hope I can go on to double these 300 wickets. I’ve only played 50 Tests,” said the 31-year-old off-spinner after India crushed Sri Lanka by an innings and 238 runs on the fourth day of the second Test in Nagpur.
Ashwin polished off Sri Lanka’s tail to help India equal their biggest victory margin and go 1-0 up in the three-match series in Nagpur. The hosts bundled out Sri Lanka for 166 shortly after fourth day’s lunch to thump them by an innings and 239 runs, the margin equalling their triumph against Bangladesh in a 2007 Test in Dhaka.
The tourists lost seven wickets in an extended morning session while India returned after lunch to inflict a morale-sapping defeat on them inside four days.
India defeated the islanders by a 9-0 margin across formats earlier this year and after the draw in the rain-affected opening Test in Kolkata, things were back to normal for the world’s top-ranked Test side.
“It’s not easy bowling spin, it looks like you’re just ambling up. But there’s a lot (that goes) behind it. We’ve bowled a lot of overs, me and Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja). And the break has helped, I’m a lot more fresher now comparatively,” he said.
The mercurial spinner, ranked fourth among top the top 10 bowlers, dismissed number eleven batsman Lahiru Gamage for nought to return impressive match figures of 8-130.
“The carom ball was a good ball, I haven’t bowled many of those in the last 24 months,” he said referring to the ball with which he got his milestone.
“I have worked on different releases for it and now that we are travelling, I think I needed that extra bit. It has been a longer break than I’ve been used to over the last few years. But I did have a good stint in Worcester and I learnt a lot of things. As you can see, I’ve worked on different loadings, different actions. It’s also helped my patience, wickets haven’t come quickly,” he added.
Ashwin, who made his debut against the West Indies in 2011, is India’s premier spin bowler and has often achieved top positions in the International Cricket Council rankings. He had also surpassed Lillee in the race to 250 wickets in his 45th Test against Bangladesh early this year.
Ashwin also has 150 one-day wickets in 111 matches and 52 wickets in 46 Twenty20 games. The 30-year-old was also the second quickest bowler to reach 200 Test wickets when he surpassed Pakistan’s Waqar Younis and Lillee in September 2016.
