Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin completed his 27th five wicket haul as India secured a first innings lead over South Africa in the first Test on Saturday in Vizag.
Ashwin now has 349 Test wickets and a wicket away from being parallel to Muttiah Muralitharan’s record in red ball cricket.
The 33 year old who came back with an impressive figure of 7/145 in the first innings, helped the men in blue bundle up South Africa for 431, securing a 71 runs lead.
Ashwin, who played his last international match in December 2018 is now just a wicket away from becoming the joint quickest to take 350 wickets in Test cricket.
Currently, Ashwin has 349 wickets from 66 Test matches. And if he manages to scalp a wicket, he will match Muralitharan’s milestone of 350 wickets in 66 Test matches.
Muralitharan also holds the record of highest wicket taker in red ball cricket, he has 800 wickets to his name in the longest format of the game.