Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Wednesday achieved a unique feat in Test career when he become the first Indian bowler to take wickets of both father and son in international cricket during the opening day of first Test against West Indies in Dominica.
The 36-year-old cricketer from Tamil Nadu dismissed the West Indian opening batter Tagenarine Chanderpaul, the son of former great batter Shivnarine Chanderpaul, in the 13th over of the innings.
Ravichandran Ashwin, who made his test debut in 2011, had previously dismissed Shivnarine Chanderpaul four times in Test matches.
In the process, Ravichandran Ashwin – who had 474 Test wickets before this match – became the first Indian and the fifth bowler ever to dismiss a father-son duo in international cricket.
Australian pacer Mitchell Starc and South African spinner Simon Harmer achieved this unique feat of the same father-son combination.
Only two other bowlers have achieved a similar feat, with one being former England all-rounder Ian Bothan and the other being the former Pakistan legend Wasim Akram. Both dismissed the same father-son pair of Lance Cairns and Chris Cairns.
While Tagenarine Chanderpaul debuted in the Test series in Australia last year, Shivnarine is considered among the all-time greats in all formats of cricket.
The former legend scored over 20,000 international runs, including over 11,000 Test runs in his 21-year career. This included 41 centuries and 25 fifties, with the highest Test score of 203* against Bangladesh and the highest ODI score of 150 against South Africa.
Meanwhile, Ravichandran Ashwin inched closer to becoming only the third Indian cricketer to pick up 700 international wickets, joining former Indian greats Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.
Entering the first Test against the West Indies on 697 wickets, the champion spinner picked up the hosts’ openers Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Kraigg Brathwaite in his first spell on Day 1.
Ashwin will also become only the 16th bowler and the sixth spinner in cricket history to boast 700 scalps when he achieves the feat.
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