Pragyan Ojha being greeted by Ravindra Jadeja after getting James
Pattinson out on Day 2 of the 4th Test between India and Australia at
Ferozshah Kotla Ground in New Delhi on 23, March, 2013.
Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha on Saturday completed his 100 wickets in
Test cricket on the second day of the fourth and final match of the
series against Australia here, becoming the third fastest Indian to
reach the milestone.
Ojha dismissed James Pattinson as his 100th victim in the morning
session to bring an end to Australia’s first innings at 262 all out at
the Feroze Shah Kotla ground.
Ojha achieved the feat in his 22nd Test and, in the process, becomes the
third fastest Indian to get 100 wickets behind legendary spinners
Erapalli Prasanna (20 Tests) and Anil Kumble (21).
The 26-year-old from Orissa dismissed Pattinson on the first ball of his
27th over when the Australian pacer got the leading edge while playing
for the turn and Virat Kohli completing a sharp catch at slips. Ojha
finished with innings figures of 26.1-6-75-1 at an economy rate of 2.86.
Ojha, who made his Test debut against Sri Lanka in Kanpur in 2009, has
not played a single match in the longer format overseas. His best
bowling figure (6/47) came against the West Indies in Mumbai in 2011.
Today’s milestone has made Ojha the 18th Indian overall and world’s 163rd bowler to get to the 100-wicket figure.
Ojha also becomes the fifth left-arm spinner from India to get to the
milestone, the others being Bishan Singh Bedi, Vinoo Mankad, Ravi
Shastri and Dilip Doshi.
Meanwhile, R.Ashwin on Saturday equalled Anil Kumble’s record of a
27-wicket haul in a four-Test series when he dismissed Australia’s Peter
Siddle this morning to finish with figures of 34-18-57-5.
Ashwin can surpass Kumble’s record if he gets a wicket in Australia’s
second innings in the ongoing Test. This was the ninth time Ashwin has
got five wickets or more in 16 Tests he has played so far. In this
series, this was his fourth five-wicket haul.
Kumble’s achievement had come in 2004-05 series against Australia which
India lost 1-2 with a match in Chennai being washed away.
Leg-spinner B.S.Chandrasekhar holds the Indian record of most Test
wickets in a series. He had 35 wickets in the five-Test home series
against England in 1972-73.
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