India's off-spinner R Ashwin surpassed Harbhajan Singh to become India’s third-highest wicket-taker of all time in Test format. He went past Harbhajan's tally of 417 wickets on Monday (November 29) against New Zealand in the first Test.
Only former India captains Kapil Dev (434) and Anil Kumble (619) are ahead of Ashwin, and the offie has a real chance of ending up as at least the second-highest Test wicket-taker for India.
Ashwin, in a chat with Shreyas Iyer after the match, recalled how he used to copy Harbhajan’s bowling action. He had decided to go for spin bowling after watching the Jalandhar-born tweaker bowling in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2001.
"When he (Harbhajan) was bowling that wonderful spell against Australia in 2001, I never thought I would even be an off-spinner (one day) on that particular day.
"But, inspired by him, I picked up the ball to bowl off-spin, and here I am. Thank you Bhajji pa for inspiring me.
"It is a wonderful milestone. It is a matter of pride. I got my 200th wicket on the same ground and now I surpassed Harbhajan Singh's tally on this very same ground again," he said.
Harbhajan was very impactful in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2001 with 32 wickets in 3 matches. Interestingly, India's second-highest wicket-taker after the off-spinner were Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan, who claimed three each.
Even for Australia, Glenn McGrath had picked up 17 wickets to be their highest wicket-taker in the historic series which India won.
“I used to bowl a bit of seam up for Tamil Nadu. Then I had a pelvic disc slip. After that, I just started batting, didn’t want to bowl at all. But, after that 2001 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, I decided to take up off-spin because of 'Bhajju pa'. It’s pretty easy, you put your hands across, hop and skip and keep going. That’s how I started. Now, I don’t know if I can do it (smiles)," he said.
Ashwin picked up three wickets each in both the innings of the first Test match at Kanpur. The off-spinner, who was doubtful of his Tet career during the pandemic, now has 419 Test wickets.
“I didn’t know if I would play Test cricket after the pandemic. I hadn’t played the last Test in Christchurch (before COVID). I was standing at the crossroads thinking whether I would play Test matches. Where is my future headed? Do I get into the Test team? This is the only format I play. God has been kind and I have been able to turn around things," he said.
"I then shifted to Delhi Capitals when you (Shreyas) were the captain and things have changed ever since," he added in the interview uploaded in BCCI.tv.
The first Test match of the series ended in a thrilling draw at the Green Park Stadium on Day five. India failed to pick up New Zealand's last wicket after Rachin Ravindra and Ajaz Patel survived for 52 deliveries.
Talking about the drawn first Test, Ashwin said, "After the game, it is still sinking in, the fact that we could not win, we were so close yet so far. It's a tough thing to get over for me.
"It happened once in Jamaica where we could not cross the line, on the last day we were trying to force a victory but could not get it. It takes some time for me especially as a bowler bowling in the last innings, but it just did not happen today."
(With BCCI.tv Inputs)
