Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Thursday became the second-fastest bowler to take 400 wickets in the history of Test cricket as India and England continued their slugfest in the Ahmedabad dust bowl.
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Ashwin, 34, achieved the feat when he trapped Jofra Archer with the second ball of 24th over in England's second innings of the third Test at the refurbished Sardar Patel Stadium, which was renamed Narendra Modi Stadium yesterday.
Minutes after Ashwin reached the landmark in his 77th match, legendary Anil Kumble, who's India's leading wicket-taker in Test cricket with 619 scalps, took to Twitter and hailed the feat as "phenomenal".
"Well done @ashwinravi99 on reaching 400 wickets .Phenomenal! Congratulations on a fantastic achievement. Great going, keep it up!" the former India captain wrote.
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Sri Lankan wizard Muttiah Muralitharan is the fastest to reach the 400-wicket mark, in 72 matches. New Zealand's Richard Hadlee and South Africa's Dale Steyn are joint-third, reaching the landmark in their respective 80th matches.
Sri Lanka's Rangana Herath (84) and Kumble (85) complete the top five.
Ashwin is also the fourth Indian bowler, after Kapil Dev (434), Kumble and Harbhajan Singh (417), to enter the 400-wickets club.
Ashwin made his Test debut against the West Indies in November 2011 at Delhi, also winning the man of the match award. He is also the most prolific man of the series award winner for India. He has 29 five-wicket hauls in an innings, and 10-wicket hauls in a match.
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Meanwhile, his rookie partner Axar Patel completed another five-wicket haul, three in three innings, as India continued to dominate England despite getting out for 145.
