Ashwin: the fastest triple centurion

Just after the match Ashwin expressed his gratitude under whom he has picked up the most number of wickets.

Ashwin had started bowling in the Sri Lankan second innings with 296 wickets to his name and quickly ran through the lower middle-order to reach the milestone.

His 300th victim was Lahiru Gamage who was bowled by a doosra. Ashwin has so far maintained a healthy average of 25.15 runs per wicket.

Ashwin also picked up 51 wickets this year – making him the only India to pick up 50 wickets on three consecutive years. He had scalped 62 and 72 wickets in 2015 and 2016

Australian fast bowling legend Lillee had reached the milestone in 56 Test matches way back in 1981 and it took 36 years for another bowler to eclipse the record. Ashwin is also ahead of some of the illustrious names, who had completed the milestone in quick time.

Among them are Muttiah Muralitharan (58 Tests), Richard Hadlee, Malcolm Marshall and Dale Steyn (61 Tests each).

Ashwin is only the fifth Indian bowler to complete a career 300 wickets in Test cricket behind Anil Kumble (619), Kapil Dev (434), Harbhajan Singh (417) and Zaheer Khan (311).

The illustrious trio of Bishan Singh Bedi (266), Bhagwat Chandrasekhar (242) and Erapalli Prasanna (189) are way behind Ashwin.

India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin became the fastest bowler to reach the milestone of 300 Test wickets today in his 54th match, breaking Dennis Lillee’s record during India's win over Sri Lanka in the second Test.