Ravichandran Ashwin along with Ravindra Jadeja led India's fightback on Day 1 of the opening Test against Bangladesh in Chennai. The hosts after being invited to bat first were rocked early by Bangladesh seamer Hasan Mahmud, who reduced India to 34/3 in the first session. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were back in the hut for single digit scores, while Shubman Gill failed to open his account. Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored a half-century, along with Rishabh Pant then took India's total to 88/3 before umpires called for Lunch.
The second session was equally disappointing as India once again lost wickets in a flurry and found themselves reeling at 144/6, leaving Ashwin and Jadeja - the last recognised batting pair - with an uphill climb. Without wasting much time, the duo started the rescue act and before the session came to a close India had reached 176/6.
IND vs BAN: Dazzling Ashwin century reminds India of his value as a batter
The pair, which is mostly renowned for their bowling heroics, added 195 runs in just 227 balls for the seventh wicket, thus stitching a perfect rescue act for India after the team was reduced to 144/6. Ashwin in the process also went to complete his ton, sixth in total, while Jadeja amassed 86 off 117 balls. Both batters returned unbeaten as India piled a stiff 339/6 at the close of play, snatching the momentum entirely from Bangladesh.
Sharing his thoughts on the knock, Ashwin called it "special" and also revealed Jadeja's assist during the course of his knock, which was laced with ten 4s and two 6s. "He (Jadeja) was of real help. There was a point where I was really sweating and getting a bit tired, Jaddu noticed it quickly and guided me through that phase."
He added: "Jaddu has been one of our best batters in the last few years. He was also very helpful in terms of telling me that we don't have to convert twos into threes, which was really helpful for me."
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Ashwin, who many know is a great analyst of the game, was also asked about the pitch and how it is anticipated to behave as the match proceeds. "It's a typical, old-fashioned Chennai pitch where overspin will fetch a bit of bounce. The wicket will start doing its tricks much later in the game. There's enough in it for the quicks, good carry, good bounce if we present the seam nice and hard. The new ball will do a bit, there'll be some help for the bowlers, we'll have to start afresh tomorrow (Day 2). There's a bit in the pitch, it's still damp underneath, so hopefully as it dries out, it quickens up," he said.
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