Former Australia great Shane Warne said he hopes Ravi Ashwin goes past his own record of 708 Test wickets! The India spinner is just four wickets away from Kapil Dev’s scalp of 434 Test wickets. Former India captain Anil Kumble leads the chart for India with 619 wickets to his name. With Ashwin getting into his peak years, Warne believes that the 35-year-old will even beat him and will go past the highest Test wicket tally of 800 set by Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan. He said he hopes Ashwin gets to 1000 Test wickets.
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Warne said that his compatriot Nathan Lyon can also make it there; he is currently at 415 Test wickets. “I hope both Ashwin and Lyon do (break Warne and Muralitharan’s record), because the more we see quality spin bowlers bowling, it makes for more interesting cricket. I think when you watch a pace bowler bowl real fast and a batter trying to take them on and then you see a really good spinner and that battle between him and a spinner. And you see that battle evolve. If you can see those two things in Test cricket, I think it becomes more entertaining. So if we can have that, then I hope Ashwin takes 1000 Test wickets, Lyon takes 1000 Test wickets. That would be fantastic,” Warne told Hindustan Times.
“Ashwin is getting better and better. He has been fantastic. A true test of any cricketer is how they go away from home. Over a long period of time when you go to different countries and see how you perform overseas and then you end up having a record – both home and overseas, it gives you an idea as to how far you’ve come as a player. I am a big fan of Ashwin, the way he bowls. I think he is always trying to develop and explore different deliveries,” he added.
When asked about the ‘decline’ of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, Warne replied he is not sure that the assessment was correct. “I’m not sure they have declined. When you have Ashwin and Jadeja, two wonderful bowlers, it’s very hard to get into the team. Kuldeep is a wonderful wrist-spinner, so is Chahal. But it’s tough to get into the team when you’ve got Ashwin and Jadeja. So I don’t think they’ve had a downfall or anything like that, or drop in form. I just think the other two are doing really well,” explained Warne.
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