Credit: X
The Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin hailed Nathan Lyon, the fellow off-spinner from Australia, for picking up 500 wickets in Tests, in a congratulatory post on his official X account. At the Optus Stadium in Perth, the Australian became the second off-spinner in Test history after Muttiah Muralitharan to reach the coveted milestone during his team’s 360-run victory against Pakistan.
Also Watch: Nathan Lyon joins elite 500-Test wicket club as Australia beat Pakistan by 360 runs
On Day four of the first Test match between Australia and Pakistan, when Nathan Lyon, 36, hit the front pad of Faheem Ashraf in front of the stumps, the umpire didn’t give the LBW decision in his favour. The Australian captain took the DRS call which led to the technology finding the left-handed Pakistan batter in front of the stumps to give the off-spinner his highly awaited 500th wicket during his 123rd match in the longest format.
Soon after, Australia bowled out Pakistan for just 89 runs after setting a daunting target of 450 in front of them to take the 1-0 lead in the three-match Test series at the Optus Stadium in Perth. It led to Ravichandran Ashwin posting a message on his official X account for Nathan Lyon, which read, “8th bowler and only the 2nd off-spinner in history to pick 500 test wickets. @NathLyon421 congrats mate #AUSvsPAK with goat emojis”.
Notably, Ravichandran Ashwin currently has 489 Test wickets under his belt after 94 Test matches, which puts him in line to become the third off-spinner after Muttiah Muralitharan and Nathan Lyon to reach the coveted 500-wicket milestone. The 37-year-old is in the Indian squad for the upcoming two Test matches against South Africa away from home in Centurion and Cape Town at the turn of the year.