He took the fewest matches and deliveries to reach the landmark besting Australian greats Dennis Lillee and Shane Warne
Shiva Jayaraman27-Nov-20170:38
Quick Facts: R Ashwin
In only his 54th match, R Ashwin became the quickest bowler to take 300 wickets in Test history. His 4 for 63 in the second innings in Nagpur not only helped India wrap up their biggest win in the format, and but also meant he took over from Dennis Lillee (56 Tests) as the new record holder. Ashwin also beat Muttiah Muralitharan, who had been the fastest spinner to 300 wickets, by as many as four Tests.Ashwin is only the eighth spinner in the world to achieve 300 Test wickets, following his countrymen Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh. Among all India bowlers, only four others have got to the landmark. A telling measure of Ashwin’s effectiveness is that, among spinners, he required the fewest balls to get to 300 wickets. He edged Shane Warne out by a small matter of 477 overs.
Bowler Team Inns bowled Balls* R Ashwin IND 101 15636 Shane Warne AUS 116 18501 Muttiah Muralitharan SL 91 18622 Rangana Herath SL 124 19367 Harbhajan Singh IND 132 19876 Anil Kumble IND 116 20664 Daniel Vettori NZ 152 22981 Lance Gibbs WI 140 25830 * Balls bowled at the end of the match in which the milestone was achievedGetty ImagesNot surprisingly, Ashwin’s strike-rate is much better than those of other spinners at the end of the Test in which they reached 300 wickets. In fact, among bowlers from the subcontinent only Waqar Younis has fared batter. Among all 31 players who have taken at least 300 wickets, only 10 had a better strike-rate at the end of the Test in which they raised the milestone.
Bowler Team Ave SR Waqar Younis PAK 22.44 42.04 R Ashwin IND 25.06 52.07 Imran Khan PAK 21.90 52.27 Wasim Akram PAK 22.91 53.44 Kapil Dev IND 29.05 58.58 Zaheer Khan IND 32.56 59.91 Muttiah Muralitharan SL 25.17 61.66 Rangana Herath SL 30.10 64.75 Chaminda Vaas SL 28.81 65.07 Harbhajan Singh IND 30.77 65.31 Anil Kumble IND 28.04 68.88 * Strike-rate at the end of the match in which the milestone was achievedAshwin made his Test debut in 2011 and has taken just over six years to get to 300 wickets, helped by the increase in number of matches India have played in the last few years . That places him second only to Warne, who took exactly six years to get there. Among India bowlers, Kapil Dev was the quickest. He took 8 years and 80 days.
Bowler Milestone achieved* Debut TimeShane Warne 02-Jan-98 02-Jan-92 6 yrs, 0 daysR Ashwin 24-Nov-17 06-Nov-11 6 yrs, 18 daysIan Botham 09-Aus-84 28-Jul-77 7 yrs, 12 daysGlenn McGrath 01-Dec-00 12-Nov-93 7 yrs, 12 daysStuart Broad 06-Aug-15 09-Dec-07 7 yrs, 240 days * From debut date to the start date of the match in which the milestone was achieved
