Rabada becomes fastest to 300 Test wickets by balls bowled

Dhaka: South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada on Monday scripted history by becoming the fastest bowler to reach the 300 Test wickets with less than 12,000 deliveries taken to achieve the landmark.

The speedster achieved the feat in the first Test against Bangladesh at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur. With the wicket of Mushfiqur Rahim in the first session of the day, Rabada surpassed legendary pacer Waqar Younis (12,602 balls) to become the fastest to 300 Test scalps in terms of balls taken. He also reached the milestone ahead of former Proteas pacer Dale Steyn (12,605 balls).

Rabada became the sixth South African bowler to complete 300 wickets in the red-ball format. He joined Steyn, Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini, Allan Donald, and Morne Morkel on the list.

In terms of matches, India's Ravichandran Ashwin was the fastest to 300 Test dismissals after achieving the feat in 54 matches. Meanwhile, Rabada’s strike rate of 39.3 is the highest among all bowlers with 300 or more Test wickets.

Playing in his 65th Test, Rabada returned with the figures of 3-26, while Wiaan Mulder and Keshav Maharaj also snapped three scalps each to dismantle Bangladesh for 106 in the first innings.

Earlier, Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto won the toss and opted to bat first but the decision backfired with Dane Piedt and Mulder giving the early blows. Bangladesh failed to recover from the early setbacks and were wrapped inside 41 overs.