Ravichandran Ashwin became second fastest bowler to get to 500 test wickets. He achieved the milestone on Day 2 of the third India vs England Test match at the Niranjan Shah Cricket Stadium in Rajkot on Friday (February 16) when he got rid of England's Zak Crawley in his second over of the first innings. Ashwin happens to be the second highest wicket-taker in test cricket for India after Anil Kumble who has the record of total 619 wickets in his test career- the two being India's only representatives in the 500-wicket club. Muttiah Muralitharan has the most number of wickets in Test cricket history. The Sri Lankan spinner has a record of total 800 wickets in his career. 

So far, Ashwin has featured in 98 Test matches, 116 ODI matches and 65 T20 matches in International cricket, picking 500, 156 and 72 wickets in them respectively. The 38-year-old has been a proven match-winner for India in all the three formats and was also part of the 2011 ODI world cup winning team. However, his best has perhaps come in Test cricket as apart from his achievements with the ball, he has scored 3271 runs in this format including five 100s and fourteen 50s with an average of 26.59 and strike rate of 54.18, being the architect of several famous Indian wins.


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The fastest to 500 Test wickets was Murlitharan who got there in 87 matches and the second one, prior to Ashwin, was Anil Kumble in 105 matches. Ashwin became the 9th player to enter the 500-wicket club beating the likes of Anil Kumble, Shane Warne Glenn McGrath among others who all reached the milestone in more matches than him.

500 Test Wickets Club

Players

No. Of Wickets

Matches Played

Country

  Muttiah Murlitharan

800

133

Sri Lanka

Shane Warne

708

145

Australia

James Anderson

690

183

England

Anil Kumble

619

132

India

Stuart Broad

604

167

England

Glenn McGrath

563

124

Australia

Courtney Walsh

519

132

West Indies

Nathan Lyon

500

123

Australia

Ravichandran Ashwin

500

98*

India