Melbourne: As the cricketing world marvelled at and lauded Team India for an exceptional bounce-back victory in the Melbourne Test against Australia, 10 days after their disgraceful 36 all out in the series opener, a world record by one of India’s top performers went unnoticed.
When Ravichandran Ashwin clean bowled last man Josh Hazlewood in the Australian secon
d innings, it happened to be the 192nd time that the off-spinner had got left-handers out.
He now stands top of the heap as far as bowlers dismissing left-handed batsmen is concerned. Sri Lankan legend Muthiah Muralitharan was the previous record-holder, with 191 victims, Hindustan Times reported.
Ashwin, who has been a major force in the potent Indian attack during the ongoing series with 10 scalps in two Tests, has bagged 375 wickets in 73 Tests so far. That means 51.2% of Ashwin’s tally of Test wickets is against left-handers – easily the best in terms of percentage of dismissals by any bowler.
TOP 5 TEST BOWLERS IN DISMISSING LEFT-HANDERS
R Ashwin (India) — 192 wkts (total 375)
M Muralitharan (Lanka) – 191 wkts (total 800)
James Anderson (England) — 186 wkts (total 600)
Glenn McGrath (Australia) – 172 wkts (total 563)
Shane Warne (Australia) — 172 wkts (total 708).