Indian spinner Ravindra Jadeja reached the elusive milestone of 600 wickets in international cricket during the first ODI of the three-match series against England in Nagpur on Thursday, February 6.
Jadeja has become just the fifth Indian bowler and fourth Indian spinner to reach to 600 wickets across the three formats. He follows the likes of Anil Kumble, Ravichandran Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh and Kapil Dev as the Indian bowlers to take 600 international wickets.
Jadeja got to his milestone wicket when he cleaned up Adil Rashid in the 47th over of the first innings.
Most wickets by Indian bowlers in international cricket:
1 – Anil Kumble: 953 wickets in 401 matches
2 – Ravi Ashwin: 765 wickets in 287 matches
3 – Harbhajan Singh: 707 wickets in 365 matches
4 – Kapil Dev: 687 wickets in 356 matches
5 – Ravindra Jadeja: 600 wickets in 325 matches
Jadeja breaks Anderson’s record
Meanwhile, Jadeja has also shattered an all-time record of former England pacer James Anderson en route to his three wickets. Jadeja has become the leading wicket-taker in the ODIs between India and England.
Anderson had 40 wickets to his name in ODIs against the Men in Blue and Jadeja needed two to go past him.
Most wickets in India vs England ODIs:
42 – Ravindra Jadeja
40 – James Anderson
37 – Andrew Flintoff
36 – Harbhajan Singh
35 – Javagal Srinath/ R Ashwin
England had earlier won the toss and opted to bat first on what appeared to be a dry red-soil pitch at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur. The Three Lions had announced their Playing XI on the eve of the game, with Mark Wood, Gus Atkinson, Jamie Overton, and Jamie Smith not in the Playing XI.
India fielded two debutants – Yashasvi Jaiswal and Harshit Rana – in the first ODI. They were without Virat Kohli, who missed out on the first game due to a knee injury, as confirmed by India skipper at the toss.
“We will bat first today. Nice thing going in the dressing room, looking forward to these ODis and we’re happy to welcome back Joe Root. The morale has been good, everyone’s good and the Baz has looked after us well. We’re playing against a top-side in their conditions, a tough test going ahead into the Champions Trophy. We’re playing 3 pacers and an extra spin-bowling all-rounder,” England captain Jos Buttler had said at the toss.
“We wanted to bowl first, but it doesn’t matter a lot. Need to be aggressive with the ball at the start and then need to do well later. Nice to get some time off, it’s a fresh start and this is a great chance to do well. It’s very important to get some gametime, try and maximize whatever opportunity we have. Jaiswal and Harshit are making their debuts, unfortunately Virat isn’t playing, he had a knee problem last night,” India skipper Rohit said at the toss.
