New Delhi: Scoring a century at home is always special and awareness of the Chepauk stadium wicket helped him pull India out of trouble, Ravichandran Ashwin said after the opening day of the first Test against Bangladesh in Chennai on Thursday.
The 37-year-old scored his sixth Test ton to bail India but from a tight spot. After being asked to bat, the home team were reduced to 34/3 in the first hour andd then 144/6 in the post lunch session.
But Ashwin played an aggressively to be unbeaten on 102 and together with Ravindra Jadeja (86 not out) produced an unbroken 195-run stand that lifted India to 339/6 at stumps.
Local boy Ashwin has been among runs in the recent Tamil Nadu Premier League, scoring 252 runs for Dindigul Dragons in 10 matches and it helped him assess the conditions and dominate the Bangladesh batters.
‘Old-school Chennai surface’
“Always special to play in front of a home crowd, it’s a ground I completely love. Last time I got a hundred here, you [Ravi Shastri] were the coach. It does feel special. It helps that I’m coming off a T20 tournament, and worked quite a bit on batting and playing shots. I’ve always been giving the ball a waft,” Ashwin said.
“On a surface like this, it’s better to go hard like Rishabh does. It’s an old-school Chennai surface with bounce and carry. When there is width, you can give it a tonk. I love playing when there is bounce and carry. I enjoyed myself today.”
India’s top order crumbled against the pace and swing of Hasan Mahmud, who dismissed skipper Rohit Sharma (6), Virat Kohli (6) and Shubman Gill (0) cheaply on a Chepauk track that had moisture.
Yashasvi Jaiswal (56) and Rishabh Pant (39) put up a 62-run partnership to partially stabilise India, but it needed a big effort from Ashwin to dig the out of a hole.
Ravichandran Ashwin scored an unbeaten 102 to lift India to 339/6 on the opening day of the first Test against Bangladesh in Chennai on Thursday. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
