Proteas speedster Dale Steyn says there are more wickets in him than 421 as he targets the 500-wicket mark. 

The 35-year-old made his comeback to Test cricket in January against India at Newlands after a 13-month lay-off, only to injure his heel in the same match. This put him out till July when he made his return to Test cricket in Sri Lanka.

Going into the series, the Proteas paceman was three wickets away from surpassing Shaun Pollock as the Proteas’ greatest Test wicket-taker, and while he managed to draw alongside Pollock’s figure in the first Test in Galle, he was not able to surpass the mark by the end of the two-match series.

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Having proved his fitness on the recent tour of Sri Lanka, Steyn revealed that getting his 422nd wicket to surpass Pollock as quickly as possible is crucial to his career.

‘Actually, it’s like a bit of a burden now,’ he told Reuters in an interview.

‘I hope it just gets out of the way and we can just carry on. Because there’s more wickets in me than 421. I have got 500 plus on the horizon so I don’t know why we are so consumed on one number.

‘When I am bowling it’s like “you’re gonna get there, you’re gonna get there”. I know I am, but I’m not interested in getting there,’ he added.

‘What I am interested in doing is performing well for my country, taking wickets and winning cricket games. If I can do that, those records, that fame and all the other things you want with professional sport will come.’

Steyn’s 421 wickets have come in 88 Tests at an average of 22.64 and he is regarded as one of the sport’s greatest fast bowlers for his ability to take wickets in all conditions.

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