New Delhi: Ravindra Jadeja etched his name in history books by claiming his 14th five-wicket haul in Tests in the ongoing third and final Test against New Zealand in Mumbai. Jadeja’s third wicket of the five helped him enter the top five on the list of the highest wicket-takers for India in Test cricket. The left-arm spinner came into the Mumbai Test placed at 309 wickets from 76 games, just two shy of the 311 mark achieved by long-serving pacers – Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma.
Jadeja went wicketless in the first session after New Zealand had won the toss and chose to bat first on a surface that had something for the spinners from the morning session itself. Three wickets fell in the first session with Akash Deep opening the account of the Indians before Washington Sundar got two in quick succession at the stroke of Lunch.
Jadeja looked rusty in his first few overs but once he settled into his rhythm, the Kiwi batters had no answers to his accurate bowling.
Jadeja spins a web at Wankhede
Jadeja broke the dangerous-looking partnership between Will Young and Daryl Mitchell in the post-lunch session. Having added 87 for the fourth wicket, Young and Mitchell threatened to take the game away from the hosts but Jadeja struck to dismiss Young for 71.
It took Jadeja 11.2 overs to bag his wicket, but only three balls to get his second as Tom Blundell was castled by a ripper that pitched on middle and leg and hit off. Four overs later, Jadeja castled Glenn Phillips (17) to enter the top five on the list of the highest wicket-takers for India in Test cricket, overtaking both Zaheer and Ishant’s tally of 311 wickets to become the fifth-highest Test wicket-taker for India.
He bagged two more to complete his 14th five-wicket-haul in Tests and went level with legendary left-arm spinner Bishan Singh Bedi, who also had 14 fifers.
Jadeja is the highest left-arm bowling wicket-taker from India. Jadeja finished with superb figures of 5 for 65 while Washington Sundar continued his good form with a four-wicket haul as India bowled Kiwis out for 235. Daryl Mitchell top-scored for the visitors with 83 runs.
India’s highest wicket-takers in Test cricket
| Player | Innings | Wickets | Avg | SR | 5-fors | 10-fors |
| Anil Kumble | 236 | 619 | 29.65 | 65.9 | 35 | 8 |
| R Ashwin | 198 | 533 | 23.96 | 50.7 | 37 | 8 |
| Kapil Dev | 227 | 434 | 29.64 | 63.9 | 23 | 2 |
| Harbhajan Singh | 190 | 417 | 32.46 | 68.5 | 25 | 5 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | 145 | 314 | 23.95 | 57.3 | 14 | 2 |
| Zaheer Khan | 165 | 311 | 32.94 | 60.4 | 11 | 1 |
| Ishant Sharma | 188 | 311 | 32.4 | 61.6 | 11 | 1 |
| Bishan Singh Bedi | 118 | 266 | 28.71 | 80.3 | 14 | 1 |
| BS Chandrasekhar | 97 | 242 | 29.74 | 65.9 | 16 | 2 |
| Javagal Srinath | 121 | 236 | 30.49 | 64 | 10 | 1 |
| Mohammed Shami | 122 | 229 | 27.71 | 50.2 | 6 | 0 |
| EAS Prasanna | 86 | 189 | 30.38 | 75.9 | 10 | 2 |
| Jasprit Bumrah | 77 | 173 | 20.57 | 44.6 | 10 | 0 |
| Umesh Yadav | 112 | 170 | 30.95 | 52.8 | 3 | 1 |
