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'It'd be appropriate that he surpasses Anil Kumble': Legendary India pacer says Ashwin 'has created a league of his own'
The legend of R Ashwin continues to grow with the off-spinner winning his ninth Player of the Series trophy as India beat New Zealand to clinch the series.
The legend of R Ashwin continues to grow with the off-spinner winning his ninth Player of the Series trophy as India beat New Zealand to clinch the series. Along the way, Ashwin achieved a few impressive feats, surpassing Harbhajan Singh to become India's third-highest wicket-taker in Tests, picking up 50 wickets in the year and grabbing 300 Test wickets on home soil.
Ashwin is now only behind the legendary Anil Kumble and Kapil Dev, even as former India fast bowler Zaheer Khan believes the 35-year-old spinner could well pip the ex-leg spinner to emerge India's highest Test wicket-taker of all time. Zaheer reckons Ashwin is a pleasure to watch bowl and given that he has achieved, the spinner has 'created a league of his own'.
"Ashwin has created a league of his own and he is also in the white ball team because of which he is in a great space. Every time he has the ball in his hand, you know he will pull off some tricks and make the batsman come on the front foot if he's playing backfoot and vice-versa. He's got the time to achieve the feat and with this consistency it would be appropriate that he becomes the kind of bowler who can perhaps surpass the great Anil Kumble," Zaheer said on BalleBaazi.com.
Zaheer lavished praise on New Zealand's left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel, who became only the third bowler to claim all 10 wickets in an innings. Patel followed Jim Laker and Anil Kumble in an elite list, with Zaheer calling it a once-in-a-lifetime landmark.
"It's just the stuff of dreams. You don't see that kind of performance sometimes in a lifetime, and it was great to see how he bowled long spells endlessly," added Zaheer.
"Yes, he was tiring a bit but every time he took a wicket, you could see his body language change and he came back with a string of 1 or 2 more wickets. It was a pleasure to witness the way he bowled and took 10 wickets. In the 2nd innings too, he was causing trouble and got 4 good wickets."
