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Ravindra Jadeja on Monday entered an elite group in Test cricket as the India all-rounder completed 350 wickets in the longest format during the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle.
The 37-year-old Jadeja became only the fifth Indian bowler to reach the mark in Tests, joining Anil Kumble (619), Ravichandran Ashwin (537), Kapil Dev (434) and Harbhajan Singh (417). Among left-arm spinners, Jadeja now sits third for Test wickets behind Sri Lanka's Rangana Herath (433) and New Zealand's Daniel Vettori (362). Jadeja reached the landmark when Sri Lanka batter Keshara Nuwantha attempted to attack an away-turning delivery, only to mistime his shot. Shubman Gill completed the catch, giving Jadeja his 350th Test wicket. The milestone also saw Jadeja join former India captain Kapil Dev as the only Indians to have amassed more than 4,000 Test runs and 350 wickets. Jadeja began the match with 4,095 runs and 348 wickets from 89 Tests. Overall, Jadeja became only the fourth player to achieve the combination of 4,000-plus runs and 350-plus wickets in Test cricket, joining Kapil Dev, England's Ian Botham and New Zealand's Daniel Vettori. Kapil finished his illustrious Test career with 5,248 runs and 434 wickets, while Botham and Vettori collected 5,200 runs and 383 wickets, and 4,531 runs and 362 wickets, respectively. Jadeja had already made an impact earlier in Sri Lanka's innings, dismissing skipper Dhananjaya de Silva for 21. Before the end of day's play, he achieved another significant achievement despite contributing only 13 runs with the bat in India's first innings. India posted 462 after Devdutt Padikkal's 167, while Sri Lanka were 274/8 at the time of writing this report as the hosts are still trailing by 188 runs. (ANI)
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