IND vs NZ: Ravindra Jadeja takes five wickets; becomes India’s fifth-highest wicket taker in Test cricket

Hyderabad: Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja became India’s fifth-highest wicket taker in the history of Indian Test cricket after returning with figures of 5/65 in the first innings of the ongoing third Test match between India and New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday

Jadeja took his 14th five-wicket haul in Test cricket as New Zealand were bowled out for 235 in their first innings.

The 35-year-old took the wickets of Will Young, Tom Blundell, Glenn Phillips, Ish Sodhi and Matt Henry as he picked up 314 Test match wickets.

In the process, he overtook seamers Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma. Jadeja is now behind Anil Kumble, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kapil Dev and Harbhajan Singh as the Indian bowlers with most Test wickets.

Both Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan had 311 Test match wickets and Jadeja started the Test match with 309 wickets. He overtook the Indian fast bowling duo after accounting for Young, Blundell and Phillips.

Kumble with 619 wickets leads the list while Ashwin, who is still actively playing Test cricket, is second on the list with 533 wickets. Kapil Dev, who held the Indian record for the most number of wickets for a long time before Kumble and Ashwin overtook him, is third on the list with 434 wickets while former fellow spinner Harbhajan Singh is fourth on the list with 417 wickets against his name.

During the course of his five-wicket haul, Jadeja has also overtaken West Indies bowler Lance Gibbs, who has 309 Test match wickets against his name, to become the eighth-highest wicket-taker among spinners in Test matches.

India and New Zealand are currently playing the third Test match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. India lost the first Test at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru by eight wickets and lost the second Test in Pune by 113 runs to crash to a first Test series defeat at home in nearly 12 years.

India will next fly to Australia to take part in five Test matches for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, a part of the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. India and Australia lead the WTC points table and the top two teams will play the WTC Final in Lord’s next year.