Stats: Rangana Herath becomes the 2nd highest wicket-taker for Sri Lanka in Tests

Even at the age of 39, nothing excites Rangana Herath more than bowling at batsmen in Test matches. His incredible ability to be the bowling machine of the side has seen him pick wicket after wicket for Sri Lanka. With no plans of retirement anytime soon, Herath is expected to reach the 400-wicket mark with little or no problems.

Just recently, the southpaw ensured that he reached the second place in the wickets column for Sri Lanka in Tests behind Lankan bowling legend Muttiah Muralitharan. In a career spanning almost 15 years, an injury-free Vaas ensured that he wrote his name in lights in the overall context of Sri Lankan history with 355 wickets.

However, when Sri Lanka played South Africa in 2017, Herath had his name etched above Vaas given the fact that he now has 356 wickets to his name. What is even more interesting is the fact that Herath still has several opportunities to increase his tally. However, one thing Herath will not be able to do will be to knock Muralitharan off his perch given the massive amount of wickets the latter claimed during his role as the primary spinner of the Sri Lankan team.

Murali concluded an 18-year career with 800 Test match wickets, he picked 795 for Sri Lanka and 5 while playing for the ICC World XI. Muttiah’s tally is definitely a bridge too far for Herath to scale. However, after Vaas, there is not a Test bowler who has had the caliber to scale the heights of the top three.

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Lasith Malinga finds himself in fourth place with 101 wickets to his name, a staggering 254 wickets adrift of Vaas. In fact, only five bowlers have crossed the 100-wicket mark for the Lankans with Dilhara Fernando being the other player to do so with 100 wickets to his name.

Interestingly, apart from Herath, none of these players play Test cricket anymore, meaning that it will certainly be a long time before someone scales the heights set by these Sri Lankan bowlers.

Here is the list of highest wicket-taker for Sri Lanka in Tests:

(Stats updated till January 3, 2017)