Chennai: Ravichandran Ashwin on Monday achieved a unique feat as he became the first Indian spinner to take a wicket off the first ball of an innings in Test cricket.
He achieved the feat during England's second innings on Day Four of the first Test here at the MA Chidambaram Stadium when he took the wicket of Rory Burns.
The ball turned sharply taking the edge of the bat of Burns and went straight into the hands of vice captain Ajinkya Rahane standing in the slips.
The first incident of a spinner getting a wicket off the first ball of a Test innings took place in 1888 when Bobby Peel dismissed Alec Bannerman off the first ball of the second innings in the third Test at the Old Trafford, Manchester during the Ashes series.
In 1907, South Africa's Bert Vogler repeated the feat when he scalped England's Tom Hayward at the Oval in London.
Meanwhile, India on Monday were bundled out for 337 in reply to England's first inning score of 578, thus conceding a hefty lead of 241 runs. Ashwin had returned with figures of 3/146 in the 55.1 overs he bowled during the course of England's first innings at the Chepauk.
Ishant Sharma 3rd Indian pacer to pick 300 Test wickets
Ishant Sharma on Monday became only the third Indian fast bowler to scalp 300 wickets in Test cricket. He achieved the feat on Day Four of the first Test here at the MA Chidambaram Stadium when he got the wicket of England's Daniel Lawrence in their second innings. Lawrence scored 18 runs off the 47 deliveries he faced before he got out lbw against Ishant.
Kapil Dev and Zaheer Khan are the other Indian fast bowlers to reach 300-wicket milestone in the longest format of the game.
Ravichandran Ashwin, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh are the other Indian bowlers to scalp 300 or more wickets in Test cricket.
Ishant, however, is the slowest Indian bowler to scalp 300 wickets. He reached the milestone in 98 Test matches, whereas Ashwin -- having scalped 300 wickets in 54 Tests -- is the fastest. Ashwin is followed by Kumble (66), Harbhajan (72), Kapil Dev (83) and Zaheer (89).
Kumble remains the highest wicket-taker for India in Test cricket with 619 wickets ahead of Kapil Dev (434) and Harbhajan (417).
Ishant had made his Test debut in 2007 against Bangladesh in Dhaka. He has also played 80 ODIs and 14 T20Is so far in which he has scalped 115 and eight wickets respectively.