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Ravichandran Ashwin surpasses Kapil Dev to achieve a massive milestone for India in international cricket

 

After dominating India on the first day of the third test in Indore, Australia has had a totally contrasting performance in the first session of the second day. After starting Day 2 at 156/4, Australia would have liked to extend its lead of 47 runs to at least 150.

But India bowled a pretty good line, and with Ravichandran Ashwin and Umesh Yadav, the Australian batters didn't have any answer for them. As a result, the visitors got bowled out for just 197 runs, ending their first inning with a lead of 87 runs.

Jadeja picked up all four wickets that fell on the first day, while Ashwin and Umesh took three wickets each in the morning session of Day 2. Ashwin took 3/44, and Umesh picked up 3/12. Notably, the veteran Indian off-spinner also jumped over the Indian legend Kapil Dev to become the third-highest Indian wicket-taker at the international level.

With his 3/44, Ashwin has completed 688 wickets in his international career, going past Kapil's 687 international wicket tally. The veteran off-spinner did it in the 347th inning, while the 1983 World Cup-winning captain had 448 international innings.

Ashwin is now third on the list of Indian bowlers with the most international scalps, behind Anil Kumble (953 wickets in 499 innings) and Harbhajan Singh (707 wickets in 442 innings) across all three formats. The veteran off-spinner has taken 151 ODI, 466 Test, and 72 T20I wickets in his career until now.

He needs another 20 wickets to cross Bhajji's tally of 707 international wickets. Australia can play a maximum of three more innings in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Ashwin has taken 17 wickets in five innings at an average of 14.06. The ongoing third test between India and Australia is evenly poised now, with India restricting the visitors under a lead of 100. But they will have to bat really well to make them a tough target.