Jadeja Enters Elite Test Cricket Club
On Monday, Ravindra Jadeja made history in Test cricket by reaching the milestone of 350 wickets during the first Test match against Sri Lanka in Galle.
At 37 years old, Jadeja became the fifth Indian bowler to achieve this feat, joining the ranks of Anil Kumble (619), Ravichandran Ashwin (537), Kapil Dev (434), and Harbhajan Singh (417). Among left-arm spinners, he now ranks third in Test wickets, following Sri Lanka’s Rangana Herath (433) and New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori (362).
Milestone Wicket Details
Jadeja’s landmark wicket came when Sri Lankan batter Keshara Nuwantha attempted to play an aggressive shot against an away-turning delivery but ended up mis-hitting it. Shubman Gill was there to take the catch, marking Jadeja’s 350th Test wicket.
Joining the All-Rounders’ Elite
This achievement places Jadeja alongside former Indian captain Kapil Dev as the only players from India to have scored over 4,000 runs and taken 350 wickets in Test cricket. Before this match, Jadeja had accumulated 4,095 runs and 348 wickets across 89 Tests.
Globally, he is now the fourth player to reach the combination of over 4,000 runs and 350 wickets in Test cricket, joining Kapil Dev, England’s Ian Botham, and New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori. Kapil Dev concluded his career with 5,248 runs and 434 wickets, while Botham and Vettori finished with 5,200 runs and 383 wickets, and 4,531 runs and 362 wickets, respectively.
Match Overview
Earlier in the innings, Jadeja also made his mark by dismissing Sri Lanka’s captain Dhananjaya de Silva for 21 runs. By the end of the day’s play, he had contributed 13 runs with the bat in India’s first innings.
India scored a total of 462 runs, with Devdutt Padikkal leading the charge with an impressive 167. At the time of this report, Sri Lanka was at 274/8, trailing by 188 runs.