James Anderson becomes third cricketer to enter 700 Test wickets club

England pacer James Anderson created history on Saturday by becoming only the third bowler in the history of Test cricket to join the 700-wicket club.

Anderson, who is the third bowler to join the exclusive club after Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and Australia’s Shane Warne (708), achieved the milestone after dismissing Kuldeep Yadav on Day 3 of the fifth Test against India in Dharamsala. The Lancashire bowler is also the first pacer to achieve the feat.

Watch the milestone wicket here:

Bow down to the Swing King! 👑

James Anderson has become the first pacer to claim 7️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ wickets in Test Cricket. 🙌#IDFCFirstBankTestSeries #BazBowled #INDvENG #JioCinemaSport pic.twitter.com/Rj6iHht5J4

— JioHotstar Reality (@HotstarReality) March 9, 2024

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Anderson had on the previous day castled Indian No 3 Shubman Gill to move to 699 wickets before getting rid of Kuldeep shortly after start of play on the following day to create history.

The 41-year-old, who’s making his 187th Test appearance at Dharamsala’s HPCA Stadium, needs another nine wickets to surpass Australian spin icon Warne on the all-time wicket-takers’ list in the five-day format.

Kuldeep departed in the fourth over of the morning session, nicking a full delivery pitched outside off that moved away a little. Bumrah, who was unbeaten on 19 overnight alongside Kuldeep, was stumped off Shoaib Bashir’s bowling just three deliveries later as the young off-spinner complete his second five-wicket haul in his debut series.

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The pair of Kuldeep and Bumrah had frustrated the Englishmen with a fighting ninth-wicket stand that was 45 at stumps on Day 2, allowing India to end the day on 473/8 and giving the hosts hope of posting the first 500-plus total of the series. The overnight pair, however, could only add four runs to their overnight score, all of them coming through singles, before perishing in quick succession.

Read | Rohit and Gill’s tons and other talking points from Day 2 of Dharamsala Test

India finished with a healthy first innings lead worth 259, and remain strong favourites to win the Dharamsala Test and complete a 4-1 series victory to retain the Anthony D’Mello Trophy.