No matter how big a player you are, milestone will be on your mind: Parthiv Patel

JioCinema experts Parthiv Patel and Zaheer Khan spoke about Ravichandran Ashwin being on the verge of the 500 Test wickets milestone on ‘Insiders Preview Ind vs Eng’ on JioCinema, Sports18. The five-match Test series begins on January 25 in Hyderabad and will get concluded at HPCA, Dharamshala between 7-11th March. In one of the biggest developments around the series, Virat Kohli has withdrawn from first two Tests, citing personal reasons.

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On Ravichandran Ashwin inching closer to 500 Test wickets

Zaheer: Ashwin would be itching to reach the milestone as it is a five-Test series. You know that if you can hit the ground running from the first match, you can have a staggering number in terms of that wickets tally. He has been doing that consistently in these conditions. So, he will be really waiting for the opportunity right now for the series to start and really be pumped and excited looking at the milestone as well, that he is so close to. A cluster of Test matches, be in good rhythm, that’s what I would be focusing on if I was Ashwin, right now.   

Parthiv: It is a five-match series and I also wanted to point it out that for Ashwin to take 10 wickets, it is also important for somebody else to not take wickets, with the kind of form that Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, and Kuldeep Yadav are in. Regarding the milestone, yes, no matter how big a player you are, it will be on your mind. It is an achievement. 500 wickets do not come overnight, it is after 10-15 years of hard work, that you reach this stage. Very few achieve this milestone and I feel Ashwin will need two tests, at the most to reach there.