Ashwin breaks Dale Steyn's record of most wickets in a single season

Ashwin has been on a record-breaking spree that has been central to India’s domination in the ongoing home season. He has been the pivot around whom other spinners move. While he has managed to break many records in the season, including the fastest player to claim 200 and 250 wickets, he has added another feather to his already over-flowing hat by going past Dale Steyn’s record tally of 78 wickets in a single home season. Today, on the opening day of the fourth and the final Test in Dharamsala, Ashwin picked the wicket of Steve Smith to surpass the South African bowler’s record.

Ashwin's record-breaking streak started against New Zealand where he ended up taking 27 wickets in three Test matches. Next up were England and they too struggled to play the Indian offie with any sort of conviction as he added another 28 wickets to the tally. Bangladesh came next as they arrived on Indian shores for the first time in their history to play a one-off Test, but they too could not stop Ashwin as he added another six wickets to the grand total. In the Australia series, he has already taken 16 wickets, including that of Steve Smith that gave him the record.