Ravichandran Ashwin overtakes Dennis Lillee as fastest to 300 Test wickets

Lillee reached the landmark in 56 Tests, while Ashwin is quicker by two Tests (54) - breaking the record that stood for 36 years since 1981.

Ravichandran Ashwin (IANS)

Ravichandran Ashwin may have gone wicketless in the first Test against Sri Lanka in Kolkata but he didn't let that haunt him in Nagpur as the offspinner produced a match-winning haul of 8/130 and in the process completed his 300 Test wickets, thereby breaking bowling great Dennis Lillee's world record. 

Lillee reached the landmark in 56 Tests, while the veteran Indian spinner was quicker by two Tests (54) - breaking the record that stood for 36 years since 1981.  

Ashwin's figures of 4/67 in the first innings and 4/63 in the second helped India equal their biggest Test win as the hosts mauled the Lankans by an innings and 239 runs, bowling them out for 166 in the second innings on the fourth day of the Test on Monday. 

India had beaten Bangladesh by the same margin in 2007.

Ashwin now heads the list of fastest to 300 Test wickets, and it includes some illustrious name like Muttiah Muralitharan (58 Tests) and Richard Hadlee, Malcolm Marshall and Dale Steyn (61 Tests each) besides Lillee, now No. 2.

Fewest Tests to 300-wickets:
54 RAVI ASHWIN
56 Dennis Lillee
58 Muttiah Muralitharan
61 Richard Hadlee
61 Malcolm Marshall
61 Dale Steyn#INDvSL #SLvIND #INDvsSL — Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) November 27, 2017

Ashwin is only the fifth Indian bowler to complete a career 300 wickets in Test cricket behind Anil Kumble (619), Kapil Dev (434), Harbhajan Singh (417) and Zaheer Khan (311).

En route his feat, Ashwin also bagged an interesting record, where he now has 181 Test wickets bowling under the captaincy of Virat Kohli, going past Anil Kumble's 179 wickets under Mohammad Azharuddin.

Ashwin's 300th victim was Lahiru Gamage, who was bowled by a doosra. 

300th Test wicket for @ashwinravi99 and #TeamIndia take a 1-0 lead in the 3-match Test series. India seal the 2nd Test in Nagpur by an innings and 239 runs #INDvSL pic.twitter.com/mq56alEczD — BCCI (@BCCI) November 27, 2017

"I really hope I can go on to double these 300 wickets, I have only played 50 Tests. It's not easy bowling spin, it looks like you're just ambling up but there's a lot behind it. We've bowled a lot of overs, me and Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja). And the break (from limited-overs internationals) has helped, I'm a lot more fresher now comparatively," Ashwin said.

"The carom ball was a good ball, I haven't bowled many of those in the last 24 months," he said referring to the ball with which he got his milestone.

"I have worked on different releases for it and now that we are travelling, I think I needed that extra bit. It has been a longer break than I've been used to over the last few years but I did have a good stint in Worcester and I learnt a lot of things. As you can see, I've worked on different loadings, different actions. It's also helped my patience, wickets haven't come quickly."

(With PTI Inputs)