The recently concluded first Test match between New Zealand and England in Mount Maunganui had witnessed veteran England pacers James Anderson and Stuart Broad becoming only the second bowling pair after Australia’s Glenn McGrath and Shane Warner to pick a grand total of 1,000 wickets in Test matches together.
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Co-incidentally, it was in New Zealand only when these two right-arm bowlers had first played a Test with each other (five years after Anderson’s debut and a handful of months after Broad’s debut). Been complimenting each other for almost 15 years now, Anderson and Broad have picked as many as 1,002 wickets between them in 133 Tests.
| Most Wickets by a pair in Test matches | |||
| Bowlers | Team | Matches | Wickets |
| James Anderson & Stuart Broad | England | 103 | 1,002 |
| Glenn McGrath & Shane Warne | Australia | 104 | 1,001 |
| Muttiah Muralitharan & Chaminda Vaas | Sri Lanka | 95 | 895 |
| Curtly Ambrose & Courtney Walsh | West Indies | 95 | 762 |
| Mitchell Starc & Nathan Lyon | Australia | 73 | 580 |
India all-rounders Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja occupy a comparatively lower position in this list but it wouldn’t be a surprise if they manage to surpass one of these pairs in the near future.
Another episode of Ashwin and Jadeja’s supremacy as a bowling duo was brought to light during the most recently concluded second Test match between India and Australia in Delhi. The two stalwarts picked three and seven wickets respectively to bundle out the opposition for 113 in 31.1 overs whilst not allowing either of the two Indian pacers to pick a wicket in the second innings.
Jadeja and Ashwin wickets in Test cricket
Having first played a Test together (13 months after Ashwin’s debut and in Jadeja’s debut match) just over a decade ago, the two spinners have dismissed 462 batters in 45 Tests with one another in the Playing XI.
Assuming that they continue at this rate, they should easily make space for themselves in the aforementioned table without even needing to play as many matches as those players have played.
“Massive help is an understatement. He’s been in phenomenal form. The way he’s batted, the way he’s bowled and we don’t have to talk about how well he moves in the field. He’s been a fantastic cricketer. I’m so thankful for the fact that I’ve got a partner like him to be bowling alongside me,” Ashwin had said of Jadeja whilst speaking to host broadcaster Star Sports Network after the conclusion of the first Test in Nagpur.
