All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja on Friday became the second fastest Indian to pick up 200 wickets in Test cricket during the opening match against South Africa in Vishakapatnam.

On a day when South Africa fought back in style to exorcise the demons of crumbling on turning pitches during their last tour, R Ashwin (with his 27th five-wicket haul) and Jadeja kept India ahead in the match by 117 runs with crucial late breakthroughs.

Jadeja achieved the feat when he dismissed centurion Dean Elgar (160) during South Africa’s first innings on the third day, in reply to India’s 502 for 7 declared.

Jadeja took 44 Tests to reach the milestone and is now only behind off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who needed 37 matches to enter the 200-wicket club.

Former India spinners Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble needed 46 and 47 matches respectively to reach the milestone.

Jadeja is also the fastest left-arm bowler to achieve the feat ahead of Sri Lanka’s Rangana Herath (47 matches) and Australia’s Mitchell Johnson (49).

Most wickets for India in Tests

Player Matches / Innings Wickets Average Economy Strike-rate 5-fors 10-fors
Anil Kumble 132 / 236 619 29.65 2.69 65.9 35 8
Kapil Dev 131 / 227 434 29.64 2.78 63.9 23 2
Harbhajan Singh 103 / 190 417 32.46 2.84 68.5 25 5
R Ashwin 66* / 123 345 25.54 2.84 53.8 26 7
Zaheer Khan 92 / 165 311 32.94 3.27 60.4 11 1
Ishant Sharma 93* / 166 279 33.45 3.18 63.0 9 1
Bishan Singh Bedi 67 / 118 266 28.71 2.14 80.3 14 1
BS Chandrasekhar 58 / 97 242 29.74 2.70 65.9 16 2
Javagal Srinath 67 / 121 236 30.49 2.85 64.0 10 1
Ravindra Jadeja 44* / 83 200 24.21 2.42 60.0 9 1
Courtesy ESPNcricinfo

Here are the other stats from the day:

(With PTI inputs)