Kanpur: Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh congratulated Ravichandran Ashwin after becoming India’s third-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket Monday. Ashwin is now behind Anil Kumble (619) and Kapil Dev (434) in India’s all-time list of highest Test wicket-takers.
Ashwin had equalled Harbhajan’s tally of 417 wickets Sunday after he dismissed Will Young on Day 4. Ashwin dismissed Tom Latham in the second innings of New Zealand at the Green Park to go past Harbhajan’s tally of 417 wickets in Tests. In the first innings of the Kanpur Test, Ashwin had taken three wickets while Axar Patel took five. Ashwin has so far taken 30 five-wicket hauls in his career.
Harbhajan took to Twitter on Monday to congratulate Ashwin.
“Congratulations @ashwinravi99 wish you many more brother.. God bless. keep shining,” Harbhajan wrote in a tweet Monday.
After Ashwin’s superb performances with both and ball, wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik has in a cricket show on Cricbuzz compared him to legendary Kapil Dev.
“Obviously, I don’t think I am in a place to judge both of them, but I must admit that they should be spoken of in the same breath when it comes to Indian cricket because both of them have been match-winners, have been exemplary, and have been definitely the two best all-rounders to have come out of this soil for a long, long time,” Karthik said during a discussion with Simon Doull on Cricbuzz.
“You have to put him there (among India’s best all-rounders) with the number of Man of the Series he has won, the accolades he has got obviously. Getting 417 wickets in 80 Tests is an unbelievable record to have and the fact that he’s contributed and scored five hundred, much more than a lot of the batters who play for a longer period of time in Test matches. There are people who have played 30-35 Tests, and still haven’t managed five hundred,” Karthik added.
