Pakistan cricket team won the first Test against West Indies last week. It was a memorable Test for Pakistan as it was the first day and night Test, pink ball was used for the first time and it was also the 400th Test for Pakistan.

Two of Pakistan’s players achieved important personal milestones: opener Azhar Ali scored a triple hundred and later leg-spinner Yasir Shah became the joint-second fastest bowler to 100 wickets when he took 5-121 in his 17th match.

England’s George Lohmann holds the record of fastest to 100 Test wickets. He reached the landmark in his 16th Test in 1896. Australia’s Charlie Turner, Clairre Grimmett and England’s Sydney Barnes all reached 100 in their 17th Test.

But Yasir became the fastest to reach 100 Test wickets in Asia, surpassing Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin’s record of taking 100 wickets in 18 matches.

Interestingly, Ashwin had wished good luck to Yasir before the Dubai Test. "Good luck, may the force be with him," Ashwin tweeted in response to the news that Yasir needs five wickets in Dubai to surpass him.

Yasir also expressed desire for a showdown with Ashwin. He revealed his wish for a Test face-off with the Indian counterpart in what would be a battle of two of cricket’s fastest wicket-taking spinners.

He was also the fastest Pakistani bowler to reach 50 Test wickets as he did it in his 9th Test, beating Waqar Younis, Shabbir Ahmed and Mohammad Asif, who took 10 Tests each.

In July this year after the match-winning performance against England at Lord’s where he took 10-141 to give Pakistan a 75-run victory, Yasir jumped to the first position in the ICC Test bowlers’ ranking.

Shane Warne was the last wrist spinner to surge to the number-one position, in December 2005.

Ashwin became the number one bowler with 27 wickets in three Tests against touring New Zealand earlier this month.

In September 2014, Pakistan’s ace off-spinner Saeed Ajmal was suspended from bowling after his action was deemed to be illegal.

Finding out the replacement of great Saeed was not an easy task. The management gave chance to Yasir and left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar. Both of them have done well so far.

Yasir, now 30, made his Test debut against Australia in Dubai in 2014. He didn’t just grab the opportunity, but made everyone forget they were supposed to miss Ajmal, spinning his way to 12 wickets in his debut series at an average of just over 17, as Pakistan whitewashed Australia 2-0.

Since then he has become a permanent member of Pakistan’s Test squad and is a threat like Ajmal for the world’s top batsmen.

"Shane Warne was my motivation; I started bowling leg-breaks after watching him bowl on TV, and then my brother sent me a video of Warne from London. I used to watch it every day and tried to copy his action. Warne was a legend so he was my idol," Yasir said in an interview.

Warne, who was following the 2014 Pakistan-Australia Test series on television, was impressed by Yasir. He tweeted: "I like the look of this leggie Yasir Shah, plenty of energy and nice variations of pace."

The leg-spinner from Swabi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, started first-class cricket in 2001 and waited for around a decade to play his first One-day International, against Zimbabwe in 2011 in which he took two wickets.

His impressive performance in 2010-11 first-class season, in which he took 16 wickets in Pentangular Cup’s four matches, 13 wickets in Quaid-e-Azam Trophy’s four games, and 3-29 for Pakistan A against Afghanistan opened the door to international cricket.

In 17 Tests appearances before the ongoing second Test against West Indies, Yasir had 102 wickets, averaging 27.89. Seven times has he taken five or more wickets in an innings and once a 10-wicket haul in a Test. In his 13-year first-class career he has taken 402 wickets at an average of 26.12.