R Ashwin equals Muttiah Muralitharan's record

Visakhapatnam:Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin scripted history when he took 350 Test wickets thus equalling Sri Lankan spin legend  Muttiah Muralitharan record of 350 wickets in Test on day fifth of the first Test of the-three-match series here on Sunday.India won the match by 203 runs against South Africa taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match-series.

Ashwin achieved this feat after taking wicket of overnight batsman Theunis de Bruyn for 10 in the morning session to reach this milestone in his 66th Test.Earlier, this record was in name of Sri Lanka's legendary spinner Muralitharan, who retired in 2010,  had also claimed 350 wickets in 66 Test matches.Ashwin was last seen in Test in December 2018, and was not part of the playing eleven for Two-Test series vs West Indies.

Earlier, when he claimed his 300th Test wicket, the off-spinner became the fastest bowler to do so, breaking former Australia paceman Dennis Lillee's record in his 

54 Test match.Ashwin has now become 25th bowler in world cricket to take 350 wickets and fourth Indian bowler. Harbhajan Singh 417, Kapil Dev 434 and Anil Kumble 619 are the Indian bowlers who are ahead of Ashwin.India now head towards Pune for second Test from October 10 and third Test at Ranchi from October 19.(UNI)