On Friday at the ACA-VDCA Stadium, Indian spinner Ravindra Jadeja picked up his 200th Test wicket and became the fastest left-arm bowler to reach the milestone in that process.
He eclipsed the feat of Sri Lanka spinner Rangana Herath, whose had reached the landmark in his 47th Test match.
In the first session of the third day itself, Jadeja could have reached the feat, but Dean Elgar was dropped by Wriddhiman Saha. And had his 200th scalp where Cheteshwar Pujara brilliantly caught the proteas opener at the square-leg boundary.
Although Herath took 47 Tests to cross the 200-wickets mark, Australia’s Mitchell Starc (50) and Bishan Singh Bedi and Wasim Akram followed him-each taking 51 tests to hit the milestone.
Saurashtra’s 30-year-old cricketer made his debut in the year 2012 in a test against England. For 156 games and 33 wickets in 44 T20IS, Jadeja has scalped 178 ODI wickets. Yes, in recent times he was India’s first-choice spinner in away games, as witnessed in the series on the Caribbean Islands against Western Indians.