India's Ravichandran Ashwin notched up his 11th Test fifty on Day 2 of the second Test between Indian and Sri Lanka, at Colombo, thus inking his name ahead of cricketing greats like Richard Hadlee, Imran Khan and even Ian Botham.
India took off Day 2 action with a jittery start that witnessed the departure of both the centurions Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. After the former's departure, Skipper Virat Kohli send down Ravichandran Ashwin, ahead of all-rounder Hardik Pandya who combined with Rahane to take India past the 400-run mark. And then after the dismissal of Rahane by Pushpakumara, he stitched a gritty 38-run stand with wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha.
He achieved his feat in the 123 over of their innings when he stepped out to smash Rangana Herath for a fabulous six over long-off. With that, he not only notched up his 11th Test fifty, but brought up 2000 Test runs. He thus became the 37th Indian to achieve the feat and 300th overall. But that is not what made Ashwin's half-century special
With exactly 279 Test wickets and presently 2004 runs to his name, Ashwin became the fourth Indian cricketer to achieve a Test double of 2,000 runs and 250 wickets. Kapil Dev, Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble are the three other Indians to do so. Overall, the Tamil Nadu-player stands 15th on the list.
Interestingly, the offie recorded his Test double in just 51 matches, thereby going ahead of some of the cricketing legends – Richard Hadlee, Ian Botham and Imran Khan. The Kiwi paceman had achieved it in 54 Test matches, back in March 1985, while Imran and Botham had done so in 55.
Unfortunate for the 30-year-old as he clean bowled by Herath in the very next delivery. India are presently inching closer to the 550-run mark with Ravindra Jadeja and Wriddhiman Saha at the crease.
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