Sir Jadeja: Records broken by all-rounder so far in the Galle Test

Galle: Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja reached a major milestone in his Test career on Day 3 of the opening Test match against Sri Lanka at the Galle International Stadium, becoming the first Indian left-arm bowler to claim 350 wickets in Test cricket.

Returning to the Test squad after missing the previous one-off match against Afghanistan, Jadeja secured his 350th Test wicket during the third session of the day by dismissing Sri Lanka's bowling all-rounder Keshara Nuwantha. The dismissal occurred when Nuwantha attempted a shot toward covers; the ball struck fielder Yashasvi Jaiswal at silly point and deflected off his thigh toward Shubman Gill, who completed the catch.

With this wicket, Jadeja surpassed former fast bowler Zaheer Khan (311 wickets) as India's leading left-arm wicket-taker in the longest format. Overall, the 37-year-old became only the fifth Indian bowler to cross the 350-wicket mark, joining Anil Kumble (619), Ravichandran Ashwin (537), Kapil Dev (434), and Harbhajan Singh (417).

Globally, Jadeja is the third left-arm spinner to achieve 350 Test wickets, following Sri Lanka's Rangana Herath (433) and New Zealand's Daniel Vettori (362).

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Additionally, the achievement places Jadeja in an elite group of all-rounders. He is now just the fourth player in Test history to combine 4,000-plus runs with 350-plus wickets, joining Kapil Dev (5,248 runs, 434 wickets), Ian Botham (5,200 runs, 383 wickets), and Daniel Vettori (4,531 runs, 362 wickets).

Jadeja's milestone breakthrough helped break a key Sri Lankan partnership during the final session. After being reduced to 90/5, the hosts staged a recovery through a 146-run sixth-wicket stand between Niroshan Dickwella, who scored 80 in his return to Test cricket after three years, and youngster Sonal Dinusha, who contributed 89.

Prasidh Krishna ended the 146-run stand by dismissing Dickwella at 236/5, shortly before Jadeja dismissed Nuwantha. Earlier in the match, India posted a first-innings total of 462, driven by Devdutt Padikkal's 167 along with half-centuries from KL Rahul (82) and Dhruv Jurel (51). (IANS)