When Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed Sri Lanka all-rounder Dhananjaya de Silva, it was his 440th Test wicket, surpassing Dale Steyn’s record of 439.
Ravichandran Ashwin, India’s off-spinner, surpassed Kapil Dev’s count of wickets taken in Test cricket in less than ten days to claim an eighth place on the all-time list. Day 3 of the second Test between India and Sri Lanka concluded with Ashwin’s dismissal of Dhananjaya de Silva at Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru, moving him past Steyn in the process. Ashwin’s 440th Test victim was the Sri Lankan all-rounder, which surpassed Steyn’s total of 439. Ashwin has 440 wickets to his name in 162 innings, while Steyn had 439 wickets in 171 innings at the Tea break on Monday in the day-night Test. Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lanka’s great off-spinner and the only player to take 800 Test wickets are at the top of the list. Immediately following him in retirement will be Australian great Shane Warne, who had 709 Test victories.
That’s what happened when Ashwin got one to turn and hit the inside of de Silva’s bat with hard ends. The dismissal was a typical bat-pad dismissal, which is common against Ashwin in these conditions.
Visitors faced an uphill battle to survive against Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja’s skill on a ground that has been favorable to spinners since day one.
Both Mendis and Karunaratne used their feet confidently to counter the Indian spinners, however, by adopting a positive approach.
On both the front and the back foot, Mendis was excellent in his ability to pull and cut the short-pitched material and use his feet to reduce the spin.
Karunaratne followed a similar strategy when charging down the wicket, but Mendis was more animated. The captain’s confidence grew as he continued to bat.
Mendis scored a single off Jadeja to bring up his fifty, but he was bowled by Ashwin and out cheaply by Rishabh Pant.
Their 96-run partnership for the second wicket came to an end. Ashwin caught Dhananjaya de Silva (4) at forwarding short-leg after Jadeja had cleaned up Angelo Mathews (1).
