Ravindra Jadeja, the newest member of the 200 wickets club

Indian left-arm all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja picked up his 200th Test wicket on Day 3 of the first Test against South Africa at Visakhapatnam. With that, Jadeja also became the fastest left-arm bowler to take 200 wickets in Test cricket.

Jadeja took just 44 Tests to reach the mark, surpassing Rangana Herath of Sri Lanka (47 matches) who previously held the record.

The left-arm all-rounder also became the second fastest Indian to take 200 wickets in the Test format, only behind his teammate Ravichandran Ashwin (37 Tests).

200 Test wickets for @imjadeja 👏👏He is the quickest amongst the left-arm bowlers to reach the mark 👌👌 pic.twitter.com/ihilr9kkWM

— BCCI (@BCCI) October 4, 2019

Jadeja achieved the feat by sending South African opener Dean Elgar back to the pavilion who scored a brilliant 160 to rescue South Africa from the follow-on. Elgar top edged one off Jadeja's bowling in the 100th over, and Cheteshwar Pujara completed a good running catch at deep mid-wicket to help Jadeja to reach the milestone.

Dean Elgar

By taking Elgar's wicket, Jadeja brought India back into the game as the dismissal ended a 164-run partnership between Elgar and another Proteas centurion Quinton de Kock. The stand had helped South Africa get close to India's total after they had lost 5 wickets for just 178 runs.

Jadeja was ranked as the No. 1 bowler in ODI cricket by ICC in 2013. He also jointly topped the list along with his teammate Ashwin in Tests in 2017. Currently he is ranked 3rd in the list of all-rounders in Tests.

Jadeja was chosen as India's first choice spinner in the playing XI ahead of Ashwin in the recently concluded Test series against West Indies, where he took 6 wickets in two matches.

Jadeja's partner in crime Ashwin

Jadeja scored an unbeaten 30 off 46 balls in India's first innings of the match against South Africa to take India past 500 runs, and also scalped two wickets. He continued his show with the bat in the second innings too by scoring a quickfire 40 runs off 32 balls, helping India to set a target of 395 runs for South Africa in the second innings to win the match.

Jadeja bagged four wickets in the second innings to bring an early end to the South African innings and helped India register a comprehensive victory by 203 runs in their first Test match of the home season.

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