Ashwin breaks Dennis Lillee's record to fastest 250 wickets

Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Sunday created the record of claiming 250 Test wickets in least number of matches in his 45th Test, eclipsing legendary Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee. Lillee had completed the milestone in his 48th Test and Ashwin's two wickets in the Bangladesh first innings in the one-off Test here helped the Indian all-rounder reach the coveted landmark. He is the sixth Indian bowler after Anil Kumble (619), Kapil Dev (434), Harbhajan Singh (417), Zaheer Khan (311), Bishan Singh Bedi (266) to reach to 250 Test wickets. Ashwin has so far taken 57 wickets in the current home season.

Till the end of the Bangladesh first innings in his 45th Test, Ashwin has 24 five-wicket hauls and seven 10-wicket hauls so far. He has also scored 1816 runs, including four hundreds. "Good to have the record out of the way," he said after the end of day's play. "was one of those days when I started enjoying my spell right from the start. It's going to be an interesting day tomorrow. The wicket is not giving too much help for the spinners, we have to be very very patient in the morning session," Ashwin said. "It was a delight to bowl in the second innings. I was a little rusty in the first innings, got into a better rhythm in the second innings straightaway, bowling with the new ball." he added.