During the Day-Night Test against England, Ravichandran Ashwin became only the fourth Indian bowler after Kapil Dev (434), Anil Kumble (619) and Harbhajan Singh (417) to claim 400 wickets in the longest format.
Featuring in his 77th Test match, Ashwin is also the fastest to achieve this milestone among Indians while he is the second-fastest ever after Muttiah Muralitharan, who accomplished the feat in his 72nd Test.
WATCH – “Who defines what a good surface is?”, R Ashwin asks journalist during a press conference
Ashwin returned with seven wickets as India won the pink-ball Test in Ahmedabad by 10 wickets inside two days.
After the game, Harbhajan hailed Ashwin and highlighted his impact behind the rise of the team.
"Taking 400 wickets is a very big thing and that too in Test cricket, a format which tests you mentally, physically and every other way. So to dismiss 400 batsmen in that and win the team match after match is a huge thing. There is no doubt that R Ashwin is a legend," Harbhajan said in a discussion with Star Sports.
"Even if he had not taken 400 wickets, it was not that he would not have been considered a legend because he has won India so many matches. It was great to hear Virat Kohli saying that he will be calling Ashwin as a legend going forward. I will also call him a legend when I meet him next time."
Ashwin has this knack of picking the wickets of opposition’s top batsmen. He has proved to be the nemesis for Ben Stokes, dismissing him 11 times in his Test career. During the Australia series, he had reasonable success against Steve Smith.
"A bowler's main task is to take wickets and that too the one which is most essential for the team, the main batsman from the opposition team. If I see this England batting, there are two big names in Ben Stokes and Joe Root. They have the ability to take England to a situation from where they can control the match," Harbhajan remarked.
"So, R Ashwin has a greater responsibility to get them out and he has not done that now but has done that very well from the time he has been playing and I pray that he continues doing so going ahead, that R Ashwin keeps a stranglehold on the main batsmen from the opposition team," he concluded.
