5 records held by Indian bowlers in Test Cricket

India is often portrayed to be a batting-heavy cricketing country. Our youngsters are swayed by batting heroics and tend to idolise batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Virat Kohli etc., a privilege rarely extended to bowlers.

Most of the budding cricketers from India often aspire to become batsmen.

Films have been made on the lives of MS Dhoni, Mohammed Azharuddin, Sachin Tendulkar, all of whom are batsmen.

This is an indication of the fact that batsmen often attract more viewership than bowlers. However, one must be careful enough not to underestimate India's bowling capabilities.

India has produced some exceptional bowling talents, especially in Test Cricket. Here we have a look at five world records held by Indian bowlers in Test Cricket.

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#1 Ravichandran Ashwin - Fastest to 250 and 300 Test wickets

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is undoubtedly one of the best bowlers in the world right now in the longest format. After just 57 matches, Ashwin already holds the record for the most number of player of the series awards by an Indian in Tests, with seven to his name.

Ashwin is the fastest to both 250 and 300 wickets in Test history. He bagged his 250th Test wicket in the one-off Test against Bangladesh in February 2017, which was his 45th Test match.

His 300th wicket came against Sri Lanka in November 2017 in his 54th Test. Both these feats were previously held by Australian legend Dennis Lillee.

In terms of the number of days to reach 300 Test scalps, Ashwin is the second fastest, having taken six years and 18 days to reach a triple century of wickets.

Shane Warne continues to be at the top of this list, having taken exactly six years to reach 300 wickets.

#2 Narendra Hirwani - Best figures in a Test match on debut

Narendra Hirwani claimed 16 wickets in his debut Test match

Not a household name amongst Indian fans, leg-spinner Narendra Hirwani was considered to be one of the finest spinners produced by India in the late 80's. A brilliant exponent of the 'googly', his debut match antics won him instant international fame and acclaim.

He holds the record for the best match figures by a debutant in Test Cricket. He took 16 wickets for 136 runs in his debut match against West Indies in Chennai in 1988, going past the previous record held by Australia's RAL Massie (16 for 137) by a whisker.

This unique feat by Hirwani continues to elude bowlers as even after 30 years, this record is still held by the Uttar Pradesh leg-spinner.

Agonisingly, his career never took off after this and he went on to represent India in only 17 matches after this brilliant feat as he lost his place to other more talented spinners like Anil Kumble and Venkatapathy Raju.

#3 Kapil Dev - Best figures in an innings by a captain

Kapil Dev's pace bowling was instrumental in India's various Test wins

Kapil Dev is indisputably one of the greatest ever all-rounders to have emerged in the history of the game.

The 'Haryana Hurricane', as he is fondly called by fans, led India to its maiden World Cup title in 1983 and is considered to be one of the greatest ever captains in India.

Amongst several bowling records held by him, one unique record is the best bowling figures in an innings by a captain.

Kapil Dev took nine wickets for 83 runs in the 2nd innings of the third Test against Clive Lloyd's men in West Indies' 1983 tour of India.

He went past the previous record held by Pakistan's Imran Khan who took eight for 60 against India in 1982.

This record still stands tall as none of the captains in the past 35 years have managed to better this record. Considering the fact that most of the captains nowadays are batsmen, it appears highly likely that this record will continue to stand tall in the coming years.

#4 Javagal Srinath - Best match figures in a losing cause

Javagal Srinath was one of India's most successful pacer

When talking about Indian pace bowlers, one can not simply ignore the name of Javagal Srinath. The Mysore Express is inarguably one of the fastest bowlers to emerge from India in its cricketing history and is considered to be the best pace bowler produced by India after former skipper Kapil Dev.

Srinath holds the record for the best bowling figures in a Test match when on the losing side. He took 13 wickets conceding 132 runs against Pakistan in the first match of the Asian Test Championship in Kolkata in 1999, albeit it came in a losing cause, unfortunately. He took five and eight wickets in Pakistan's first and second innings respectively.

Srinath's exemplary performance was however overshadowed by Pakistani opener Saeed Anwar's brilliant 188 not out in the second innings which helped Pakistan defeat India by 46 runs to secure yet another famous win against the arch-rivals.

#5 Anil Kumble - Most wickets taken LBW

Kumble was India's leading wicket-taker in Tests

Any article about the achievements of Indian bowlers is incomplete without the name of India's greatest ever bowler, Anil Kumble.

The former skipper is India's most successful bowler in both tests and ODIs and has picked over 900 international wickets.

Kumble holds several records in Test Cricket but amongst his various marvelous feats, one unique record that stands out is the fact that he has effected the most number of dismissals by the method of LBW (leg before wicket) in Tests - 156 LBWs, which account for 25.2 % of his 619 scalps.

It must be noted that LBW dismissals are purely based on the individual brilliance of the bowler without other teammates' assistance.

Kumble also holds the record for the most caught and bowled in tests - 35 of them, another mode of dismissal which does not require the assistance of teammates.

Jumbo, as he is fondly called, has the third most number of Test scalps preceded by Muralitharan and Warne and continues to inspire India's next-gen tweakers.