Bengaluru, March 9 : Former India skipper Kapil Dev sent a bouquet and hand-written note to spinner Ravichandran Ashwin after he surpassed the 434 wickets tally of him. “Very sweet of Kapil paaji. He has actually sent a bouquet home. He has also sent a small hand-written note congratulating me for crossing him,” Ravichandran Ashwin said on surpassing Kapil Dev’s tally of 434 wickets in the Test cricket. During the first Test against Sri Lanka at Mohali, Ashwin created history by becoming the second highest wicket-takers for the country after surpassing greatest Indian all-rounder Kapil Dev. Ashwin bagged six wickets in the match and took his tally to 436 Test wickets in 85 matches. Now, Chennai-lad is behind Anil Kumble who has the tally of 619 Test wickets. Ashwin did not stop praising Kapil, but went on to thank legends like Kumble, Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh. “But you know, sometimes people do forget that people like Kapil Dev, people like Sachin Tendulkar, people like Anil Kumble, people like Harbhajan Singh – those who have done incredible things in the past are one the reasons why I am sitting here today,” he said. Earlier during the New Zealand series at home, Ashwin had raced past Harbhajan’s tally of 417 Test wickets last year. Ashwin is also a dependable batsman over the years and is third on the ICC men’s Test allrounders’ list with 347 points. He is also No.2 ranked Test bowler with 850 points behind Australia captain Pat Cummins. On the current Indian team, Ashwin said it could be counted as one of the good teams India had produced after 10 years down the line. “It’s been a wonderful team. As I look at it now with a little more maturity and a little bit of a twinkle in my eye, I can see the kind of people I brushed shoulders with in this team. Maybe 5 to 10 years down the line, people will talk about this being one of the good teams that India has produced,” he said. BDN GK
