India’s ace spinner R Ashwin became the fastest bowler in the history of longest format of the game to pick as many as 300 wickets by achieving the feat in the 54 Test matches, two better than Dennis Lillee who held the record till Monday. Ashwin dismissed Lahiru Gamage, the last Sri Lankan wicket, to bowl India to a win by an innings and 239 runs in Nagpur.
The ace pacer has now expressed his desire to take his wicket count to 600 Test scalps, he said, “I really hope I can go on to double these 300 wickets, I’ve only played 50 (54) Tests. It’s not easy bowling spin, it looks like you’re just ambling up. But there’s a lot behind it. We’ve bowled a lot of overs, me and Jaddu. And the break has helped, I’m a lot more fresher now comparatively.”
Ashwin was dropped from the Indian limited-overs squads recently and that gave him a long break from international cricket. Talking about the same, he said, “I’ve 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.”
The off-spinner picked up eight wickets in the second Test in Nagpur and was the chief destroyer for India. Explaining India’s bowling, Ashwin said, “Today was a bit funny in the morning. We started off and the ball spun a little bit, it kept straight as well. Special mention to Ishant, he’s bowled really well after coming back. The angular release also makes it difficult, changing the height of the release has also helped. And me and Jaddu bowl the right pace on these kinds of wickets.”
Talking about the speed with which he is making records, Ashwin said, “We are a bit more blessed than the other greats. We have technology to help. We have help with our fitness. So we shouldn’t compare. The carrom ball was a good ball, I haven’t bowled many of those in the last 24 months.”
