Team India offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin claimed his much-awaited 500th Test wicket during the third Test match against England. However, Ravi Shastri and Ravichandran Ashwin’s wife Prithi Narayanan were wrong in their predictions about the historic roulette milestone.
Ravichandran Ashwin reached the milestone of 500 wickets during the ongoing match at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot. The 37-year-old bowler became the second Indian cricketer to achieve this feat after the legendary Anil Kumble.
Ashwin became the ninth cricketer overall to reach the milestone. He also holds the record of being the fastest bowler to achieve 500 Test wickets. He achieved this feat in his 97th Test match, second only to Australia’s Glenn McGrath (87) in terms of matches played.
Ravichandran Ashwin dismisses Zak Crawley to complete Milestone
Ravichandran Ashwin met the bowling attack in the 12th over of England’s first innings. The veteran player made an instant impact by dismissing Zak Crawley in his seventh delivery. He broke up the partnership between Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett.
Opting to bowl around the wicket towards right-hand batsman Crawley, Ashwin bowled a full length ball aimed at the leg stump line. The first English batsman attempted a sweep shot but missed, resulting in a top edge. Rajat Patidar caught him successfully at fine leg.
Straight with the arm – Ravi Shastri
Ravi Shastri, Sunil Gavaskar, Dinesh Karthik and Ashwin’s wife made predictions about Ashwin’s historic achievement. Shastri specifically anticipated that Ashwin would dismiss the batsman by trapping him in front of the stumps.
“It has. Straight with the arm, catches the pads, hits forward,” Shastri said.
Caught and thrown – Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar accurately predicted that Ashwin would dismiss Crawley, although he did not correctly anticipate the mode of dismissal.
“Zak Crawley. Caught and thrown,” Gavaskar said.
The middle stump goes like this – Prithvi Ashwin
Prithi expressed his hope that the spearhead of Indian spin bowling would dismiss the batsman by bowling him cleanly, hoping that they would knock down the middle stump.
“In fact, I was expressing it this morning. I want the dough to be clean. The middle stump goes like this,” Prithi said.
Rajkot was gearing up for R Ashwin’s 5⃣0⃣0⃣ Testing Ground
The Comms, the Journos, the TV Crew and a very special member of the Ashwin family got their predictor hat 🔛
Who did it right? 🤔#TeamIndia | #INDvENG | @ashwinravi99 | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/tPuIvS51oR
– BCCI (@BCCI) February 16, 2024
Ashwin also made a significant contribution with the bat in the ongoing Test match against England, forging a crucial 77-run partnership to bolster India’s total. However, he was dismissed for 37 runs after being caught by James Anderson off a Rehan Ahmed delivery.
India
Also Read: “It’s destiny that I get it here in my hometown” – Ravindra Jadeja on Ravichandran Ashwin’s 500th Test wicket
