Features and Interviews
Fri 8 Jul 2011, 3:03 pm
Summary
Spinner dismisses Carlton Baugh to become 11th highest wicket-taker in Tests
Dominica, July 7: Harbhajan Singh has become the third Indian after Kapil Dev and Anil Kumble to take 400 wickets in Test cricket. Harbhajan achieved this feat on Day 2 of the Dominica Test being played against the West Indies when he had Carlton Baugh’s middle-stump knocked over as the batsman failed to execute a cut short. Earlier, West Indies captain Darren Sammy became Harbhajan’s 399th victim in Tests when he offered a straightforward catch to Abhinav Mukund at forward short leg. Sammy had made 20. Harbhajan claimed both batsmen a little over an hour into the post lunch session, off consecutive overs. Harbhajan even had an opportunity to add to his wickets’ tally but dropped Ravi Rampual off a sharp return catch a few overs after he had taken his 400th wicket. He finished with figures of 15-7-26-2 as the West Indies were bowled out for 204 in their first innings. Harbhajan, who made his Test debut against Australia in Bangalore in October ’98, is the fourth highest wicket-taker among spinners after Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne and Anil Kumble. The offspinner who hails from Jalandhar, Punjab, is now only six wickets shy of going past Curtly Ambrose, the legendary West Indies pacer of the late ’80s and ’90s, who, with 405 wickets, rounds off the list of top 10 wicket-takers in Test cricket. Leading wicket-takers in Test cricket:
S.No | Bowler | Mts | Balls | Runs | Wkts | Best | Avg | SR | 5WI | 10WM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | M Muralitharan (SL/ICC) | 133 | 44039 | 18180 | 800 | 9-51 | 22.72 | 55.05 | 67 | 22 |
2 | SK Warne (Aus) | 145 | 40705 | 17995 | 708 | 8-71 | 25.41 | 57.49 | 37 | 10 |
3 | A Kumble (Ind) | 132 | 40850 | 18355 | 619 | 10-74 | 29.65 | 65.99 | 35 | 8 |
4 | GD McGrath (Aus) | 124 | 29248 | 12186 | 563 | 8-24 | 21.64 | 51.95 | 29 | 3 |
5 | CA Walsh (WI) | 132 | 30019 | 12688 | 519 | 7-37 | 24.44 | 57.84 | 22 | 3 |
6 | Kapil Dev (Ind) | 131 | 27740 | 12867 | 434 | 9-83 | 29.64 | 63.92 | 23 | 2 |
7 | RJ Hadlee (NZ) | 86 | 21918 | 9611 | 431 | 9-52 | 22.29 | 50.85 | 36 | 9 |
8 | SM Pollock (SA) | 108 | 24353 | 9733 | 421 | 7-87 | 23.11 | 57.85 | 16 | 1 |
9 | Wasim Akram (Pak) | 104 | 22627 | 9779 | 414 | 7-119 | 23.62 | 54.65 | 25 | 5 |
10 | CEL Ambrose (WI) | 98 | 22103 | 8501 | 405 | 8-45 | 20.99 | 54.58 | 22 | 3 |
11 | Harbhajan Singh (Ind) | 96 | 26981 | 12722 | 400 | 8-84 | 31.81 | 67.45 | 25 | 5 |
Harbhajan Singh’s wicket timeline:
Wkt No. | Batsman dismissed | Mode of dismissal | Oppn | Venue | MM-YY | Test No. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st | Greg Blewett (4) | Bowled | Australia | Bangalore | Oct-98 | 1st |
25th | Adam Gilchrist (122) | Stumped | Australia | Mumbai WS | Feb-01 | 9th |
50th | Shane Warne (11) | LBW | Australia | Chennai | Mar-01 | 11th |
75th | James Foster (5) | LBW | England | Mohali | Dec-01 | 18th |
100th | Wavell Hinds (113) | Caught | West Indies | Kingston | May-02 | 25th |
125th | Mervyn Dillon (0) | Bowled | West Indies | Mumbai WS | Oct-02 | 29th |
150th | Nathan Astle (18) | Caught behind | New Zealand | Mohali | Oct-03 | 35th |
175th | Andrew Hall (26) | Caught behind | South Africa | Kanpur | Nov-04 | 40th |
200th | Charles Coventry (24) | Caught | Zimbabwe | BulawayoQSC | Sep-05 | 46th |
225th | James Anderson (15) | Caught | England | Mumbai WS | Mar-06 | 55th |
250th | Ricky Ponting (3) | Caught | Australia | Melbourne | Dec-07 | 61st |
275th | Dale Steyn (7) | Bowled | South Africa | Kanpur | Apr-08 | 66th |
300th | Ricky Ponting (24) | Bowled | Australia | Nagpur | Nov-08 | 72nd |
325th | James Franklin (15) | Caught | New Zealand | Wellington | Apr-09 | 77th |
350th | J-P Duminy (0) | LBW | South Africa | Kolkata | Feb-10 | 83rd |
375th | Jesse Ryder (59) | Caught | New Zealand | Nagpur | Nov-10 | 90th |
400th | Carlton Baugh (60) | Bowled | West Indies | Dominica | July-11 | 96th |
All stats are as on July 7, 2011
