Will Ravichandran Ashwin break Muttiah Muralitharan's record? Can the star Indian off-spinner become the bowler with the most number of Test wickets? After the conclusion of the Chennai Test, fans are eager to find the answer to the question. Notably, Ashwin had scalped 6 wickets in the series opener against Bangladesh which was played at his home ground and bagged the Player Of the Match recognition after scoring a century in the first innings and shining with the ball in the last innings of the Test as India clinched a 280-run win.
En-route to his six-wicket haul in the second innings, Ashwin surpassed Courtney Walsh. The West Indian pacer had 519 Test wickets while Ashwin now has 522 wickets. That means Ashwin now has 7 bowlers ahead of him in the list of highest wicket-takers in Test matches. However, only Nathan Lyon among them with 530 wickets happens to be an active cricketer while all others have retired. Shane Warne, who has the second highest scalps in Tests, with 708 dismissals, passed away in 2022.
It's been 14 years since Muttiah Muralitharan retired from international cricket. However, his 800 Test wicket-record has remained unchallenged with no even coming close. Muralitharan achieved the feat in 133 Test matches. While Warne is at the second place in the list of highest wicket-takers, he is followed by James Anderson in the list with 704 wickets. Anil Kumble, Stuart Broad and Glenn McGrath with 619, 604 and 563 wickets respectively sit at the fourth, fifth and the sixth places respectively. Lyon and Ashwin are the next bowlers who feature in the list.
As things stands, it is turning out to be a great fight between Lyon and Ashwin. Both are the finesh off-spinners in the modern-day game. While Ashwin has played 101 Test matches and picked 522 wickets, his strike rate is 50.51 as he picks a wicket in every 50th ball. 36-year-old Lyon, meanwhile, has 530 wickets from 129 Test matches, with a strike rate of 61.81 which means that he needs to bowl an average of 12 overs to get a wicket.
Going by their strike rate and assuming no dip in form, Ashwin and Lyon might need to play at least 40-50 Test matches to match Muralitharan's tally as Ashwin takes an average of 5 wickets per Test with his Australian off-spinning counterpart averaging even less.
Ashwin is already 38 and with less Test matches in the calendar these days, in order to play a further 50-60 Tests, he will need to be around in Test cricket at least till his 44th birthday. That means, Ashwin, for all realistic purposes, may not be able to match Muralithran's record. However, he stands a good chance to beat Anil Kumble's record for beating the Indian record for the highest wicket-taker in Tests.
Lyon, 36, might be around for longer than Ashwin but with 800 wickets to his name Muralitharan's record seems safe for now and for the foreseeable future.
