Rangana Herath surpasses Kapil Dev to become first bowler to bag 100 wickets against Pakistan in Tests

PTI

New Delhi: Wily old champion Rangana Herath spun a havoc at Abu Dhabi on the fifth and final day of the first Test against Pakistan as his stunning second innings six-wicket haul helped Sri Lanka humble their Asian rival by 21 runs on Monday. With that, Herath not only breached the 400-wickets mark in Test cricket, but also became the first-ever bowler to scalp 100 wickets against Pakistan.

The left-arm spinner in total, finished with an astounding bowling figure of 11/136 to deny the Pakistani side to reach a rather dismal target of 136 runs at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, a track on which Pakistan have been undefeated against South Africa, England, Australia, New Zealand and even West Indies. Ergo, the Islanders are now 1-0 up in the two-match Test series.

Well, for the 39-year-old, he achieved a milestone with his last wicket of Mohammad Abbas – it was his 400th Test wicket – 14th bowler to breach the feat and fifth spinner after fellow countryman Muttiah Muralitharan (800), Aussie legend Shane Warne (708) and Indian spin duo of Anil Kumble (619) and Harbhajan Singh (417). Bringing it up in mere 84 innings, Herath stands third on the list of 'Fewest Tests to 400 wickets behind Muralitharan (79) and Richard Hadlee and Dale Steyn (80). Adding to it, he is the first left-arm spinner to bag 400 wickets in the history of Test cricket.

But what turned out to be a world record for Herath is that he became the first-ever bowler to scalp 100 Test wickets against Pakistan. With now 101 wickets to his name in 20 innings, he edged past Indian legend Kapil Dev (99) when he outfoxed Mohammad Amir in the 46th over of their innings.

As interesting as it may sound, Herath is the very same bowler who had scalped 22 wickets against this same team, back in 2014, which now stands as a world record for most wickets in a two-match Test series.

"I have no idea, but I have played more games against them," said the 39-year-old after Sri Lanka's narrow victory in Abu Dhabi.

Well, to roundup, it was a phenomenal win for the Islanders, sort of a morale boost after a 0-9 drubbing against India in all formats of the game in August-September.