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Ind vs SL: I hope I can go on to double 300 wickets, says Ravichandran Ashwin

The rate at which Ashwin has been bagging Test wickets, especially at home has been remarkable

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Ravichandran Ashwin
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Ravichandran Ashwin came here for his 54th Test needing eight wickets to become the fastest to 300 wickets. Australia paceman Dennis Lillee took 56 Tests to get there. If Ashwin had not obtained them here, he'd still have achieved the record in the third Test in New Delhi starting on Saturday.

But, milestones don't really matter to Ashwin. He just loves taking wickets and bowling India to victories. And, like an engineer that he had studied to become one, he plots the batsman's dismissal in the mind and works towards perfecting his art of taking wickets when he goes out in the middle.

On Monday, Ashwin needed four more to reach 300, having taken four in the first innings on Friday. By taking 4/63 for match figures of 8/130, the 31-year-old finished exactly with that many wickets to help India complete an innings and 239 run victory on the Sri Lankans.

The rate at which Ashwin has been bagging Test wickets, especially at home has been remarkable. It seemed only recently that he was the second fastest to 200 Tests when he got there 37 Tests while playing in India's 500th Test against New Zealand in Kanpur in September 2016. He had missed Australian leg-spinner Clarrie Grimmett's then record by one Test.

While Grimmett stopped at 216 wickets in 37 Tests, Ashwin was competing with Lillee for the 250 and 300 milestone, pushing the Aussie to second to both the landmarks.

Bowling in the sub-continent is like eating a piece of cake for Ashwin. He and left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja are virtually unplayable on dry pitches with the slightest hint of turn, as New Zealand, England, Australia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have found out in the last year or so.

Having to share a majority of the burden of taking wickets with Jadeja until a couple of years ago, as the Indian medium-pacers were still coming of age, Ashwin now feeds off from the success of Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma, like they have been of him and Jadeja.

Like he said at the post-match presentation on Monday: "We started off and the ball spun a little bit, it kept straight as well. Special mention to Ishant, he's bowled really well after coming back. The angular release also makes it difficult, changing the height of the release has also helped. And me and Jaddu bowl the right pace on these kinds of wickets."

Trying out new things and not getting stuck on just one or two, Ashwin has been giving minute details to the angle with which he bowls and the point of release and what not. So much so that when he talks cricket, one may find it too technical.

"The carrom ball was a good ball, I haven't bowled many of those in the last 24 months. I've worked on different releases for it and now that we are travelling, I think I needed that extra bit."

His maiden England county stint with Worcestershire earlier this year has helped him work on a few more things. "I learnt a lot of things at Worcester. I've worked on different loadings, different actions. It's also helped my patience, wickets haven't come quickly," he said.

Ashwin has been one of the very few in the current team that has acknowledged the help he has received from the former chief coach Anil Kumble.

The greatest tribute he paid to Kumble was when he said he would stop playing if he reached 618, one less than the leg-spinner's tally of Test wickets.

"I really hope I can go on to double these 300 wickets, I've 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," Ashwin said.

Indeed it's not easy. When Sri Lanka were nine down on the day, Ashwin needed one to 300, while at the same time pacer Umesh Yadav was one short of 100 Test scalps. And, the two were bowling in tandem at Nos. 10 and 11, Suranga Lakmal and Lahiru Gamage.

Ask team-mate Rohit Sharma if the fight for that wicket was between Ashwin and Yadav, the batsman who scored 102 not out on Sunday, said: "Not really. I think it was just about getting the batsman out and finishing the game off. I think this team has never worried about individual milestones. If it happens on the way, well and good, And if it doesn't, it doesn't. There's another Test match where Umesh can probably get his 100th wicket."

Rohit paid rich tributes to Ashwin's 300. "Hats off to Ashwin. In the last five or six years, he's been one of the match-winners of the team. The way he's performed and the way he's brought the team back from difficult situations, hats off. And, I hope that he continues and wish him all the luck. He exactly knows what he's doing, and he works according to his plans, which work for him. It's always important that you stay within your limits and Ashwin is doing that."

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