India vs England 1st Test: Ishant Sharma becomes THIRD Indian pacer to achieve this feat

Ishant Sharma is congratulated by his teammates after picking up a wicket against England in the first Test in Chennai. (Source: Twitter)

Indian paceman Ishant Sharma became just the third Indian paceman after Kapil Dev and Zaheer Khan to pick up 300 wickets in Test cricket. The Delhi paceman achieved this landmark in his 98th Test with the dismissal of Dan Lawrence of England in the second innings of the first Test in Chennai on Monday.  

On a day on which Kapil Dev had picked up his then record 432nd Test wicket in 1994 to overtake Richard Hadlee’s tally, Ishant joined the 300-wicket club with the Indian paceman. The Indian fast bowler now has 300 wickets from 98 Tests at an average of just over 32.  

His haul includes 11 five-wicket hauls and 1 ten-wicket haul and he is now third-fastest to this landmark behind Ravichandran Ashwin and Zaheer Khan. Former India left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan had 311 Test wickets in 92 Tests while the legendary Kapil Dev ended up with 434 Test scalps in 131 Tests. 

Anil Kumble is the leading Test wicket-taker among Indian bowlers with 619 wickets from 132 Tests. 

Congratulations on 300 test wickets to the workhorse of Indian cricket @ImIshant #INDvsENG pic.twitter.com/HuBLIOSK84

— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) February 8, 2021

Ashwin was the fastest to get there, taking only 54 matches, followed by Kumble (66), Harbhajan (72), Kapil (83) and Zaheer (89).  

Ishant had missed the four-match Test series against Australia, and now he has made a comeback in the England series. Earlier on day four, Washington Sundar played an unbeaten knock of 85 runs as England bowled out India for 337 in the first session. 

As a result, India gave the visitors a lead of 241 runs. England did not enforce the follow on and sent out Rory Burns and Dominic Sibley to score runs at a brisk pace. In the second innings, England has lost the wickets of Rory Burns, Dominic Sibley, and Dan Lawrence.