IND vs SL: R Ashwin surpasses Shane Warne, Dale Steyn to script 2 massive feats during Bengaluru pink-ball Test

En route to the feats, Ashwin surpassed Test cricket legends Shane Warne and Dale Steyn.

Veteran Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Monday added two new feathers to his already-crammed hat as he scripted two massive feats on the third afternoon of the pink-ball Test against Sri Lanka at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. En route to the feats, Ashwin surpassed Test cricket legends Shane Warne and Dale Steyn. 

Shane Warne; R Ashwin; Dale Steyn

With his second wicket in the second innings of the second Test against Sri Lanka, dismissing Dhananjaya de Silva for just 4, Ashwin went past the South African cricket great Steyn to become the eighth highest wicket-taker in Test cricket with 440 scalps, which has come in his 86th Test match, Steyn had picked 439 wickets in his illustrious 93-match career. Next on the list is West Indies great Courtney Walsh, who picked 519 wickets in his career. 

Among Indians, he remains the second highest wicket-taker having earlier pipped the legendary Kapil Dev during the Mohali Test earlier this month.

The dismissal was also his 60th wicket against Sri Lanka in the traditional format as he went past Australian cricket legend Warne, who had picked 59 wickets against the Asian country. 

Ashwin now stands fourth on that list, behind India's Anil Kumble, who had picked 74 wickets in 18 Tests against Sri Lanka, Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal, who picked 66 wickets in 14 Tests and pace legend Wasim Akram - 63 wickets in 19 matches. Ashwin's tally of 60 came in just 11 matches.

Talking about the match, Ashwin's two wickets helped India reduce Sri Lanka to four down in their mighty chase of 447 in the Test match. 

India had earlier won the series opener in Mohali by an innings and 222 runs and are now aiming for a series whitewash against Sri Lanka.