India's off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin surpassed veteran India spinner Harbhajan Singh on the list of the number of wickets in Test match cricket. While Ashwin had already levelled the tally as he dismissed Kiwi opener Will Young in the final session on Day 4, minutes before stumps, as soon as he dismissed Tom Latham he went past Bhajji with 418 Test wickets.
Later Bhajji congratulated Ashwin for breaking his record and wished that he continued to take many wickets for Team India in international cricket and helps the Men in Blue win matches.
"Congratulations @ashwinravi99 wish you many more brother.. God bless.. keep shining," Harbhajan tweeted.
Check out his Tweet here:
"Wish he wins many more matches for the country. I never believed in comparisons. I did my best for the country during my time and Ashwin has done his best during his," Harbhajan who won the ODI World Cup with Team India in 2011 as well as the T20 World Cup in 2007 stated.
Despite Ashwin breaking the record in this match, Team India were not able to register a win on a thrilling final day. While India needed 9 wickets to win the match on Day 5, the Kiwi batters ensured they lost none in the opening session, they lost three wickets in the second. In the final session on Day 5 where the Indian team needed six wickets to win, they did take five but the last pair of Ajaz Patel and Rachin Ravindra played nearly 9 overs to enforce a famous draw.
It was a memorable match for both the debutants. India's Shreyas Iyer was adjudged the Player of the Match as he scored a hundred in the first innings and later chipped in with a half-century in the second to bail India out of a difficult situation. Later, New Zealand's Rachin also faced 91 balls but did not give his wicket away to save the match for his team.
Following Harbhajan's tweet, Twitterati has been buzzing with all kinds of reactions. Have a look at a few of them:
For now, Ashwin is 16 wickets away from overtaking former India captain Kapil Dev and becoming the second-highest wicket-taker for India.