(Cricket News) On the first day of the first Test against the West Indies in Roseau, Dominica, India’s star spinner, Ravichandran Ashwin, cemented his place in cricket history. In a historic accomplishment, Ashwin became the sixth bowler in the world and the first Indian to ever dismiss both a father and son in a Test match.
When Ashwin made his Test debut in 2011, it marked the beginning of his adventure. It was also on that first outing that he dismissed Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the father of Tagenarine Chanderpaul. Now, twelve years later, Ashwin found himself face to face with Tagenarine and bowled a brilliant delivery to dismiss him as well.
At the Wankhede Stadium in November 2013, during Sachin Tendulkar’s final international match, Ashwin dismissed Shivnarine Chanderpaul four times in Test matches. In the process, Ravichandran Ashwin rose to the top of the world rankings and became the fourth bowler in cricket history to dismiss a father-son team. He was also the first Indian to do it.
This exceptional feat of the same father-son combination was accomplished by Australian pacer Mitchell Starc in 2022. Ten years after he had taken his father’s wicket, the left-arm quick dismissed Tagenarine. Only three other bowlers, former England all-rounder Ian Botham, former Pakistan legend Wasim Akram, and South African Simon Harmer have accomplished a feat of this caliber.
Inching closer to joining past greats Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh as the third Indian cricketer to record 700 international wickets is Ravichandran Ashwin. The champion spinner, who had 697 wickets going into the first Test against the West Indies, picked up the hosts’ openers Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Kraigg Brathwaite in his first spell on Day 1.
When Ashwin accomplishes the achievement, he will also go down in cricket history as the sixth spinner and only the 16th bowler to have claimed 700 wickets. The 36-year-old has taken 476 Test wickets and 223 ODI and T20I victims in 271 international games.
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