Chennai local boy Ravichandran Ashwin joined an elite roster on Sunday when he beat ex-India spinner Harbhajan Singh to record the most home ground on Day 2 of the second India-England test in Chennai.
Ashwin, who caught Dom Sibley’s grounds, Dan Lawrence before lunch returned after the break to overtake Ben Stokes and surpass Singh’s count of 265.
Lawrence left. Ashwin on fire. England is on fire too, but it’s a garbage dump fire. #INDvENG #ENGvIND #Cricket pic.twitter.com/duGZamMktp
– AmirCXN (@cxn_amir) February 14, 2021
What more could you ask for on Valentine’s Day !! ????#INDvsENG #IndiavsEngland #Ashwin pic.twitter.com/hzS5ZV9Uoz
– Karan Bhatia (@ sonofsardar4) February 14, 2021
Ashwin now has 266 victims at home in the game’s longest format in just 45 tests with an outstanding average of 22.64.
Former India captain Anil Kumble leads the list with 350 wickets from 62 matches in India.
Previously, the Indian spinners had England reeling in an explosive pitch, cutting them to 39 by four at lunch on the second day of Sunday’s second test.
India, who resumed the day 300 of six, could only score 29 runs in the morning session with Rishabh Pant (58, not 77 balls) running out of teammates.
At halftime, England trailed India by 290 runs and faced a Herculean task to get close to India’s score of 329 in the first inning in a dust bowl.
Pacer Ishant Sharma (1/15) provided the first breakthrough for India when he had left-handed starter Rory Burns LBW for a duck with a biting ball that overcame his defensive drive.
The other starter Dom Sibley (16, 25 balls, 3X4) was the next to go, caught by Virat Kohli in an Ashwin leg slip, which was given by the third referee after India chose to review when the field referee rejected the call for a capture.
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