Ravichandran Ashwin, a veteran all-rounder, once again proved his worth with the bat by scoring his sixth Test century against Bangladesh on day one of the first Test match that took place in his home town of Chennai on Thursday.
Despite beginning the innings at a fast pace, there were moments during which the 38-year-old right hander was challenged physically and had to slow down later during his innings.
At that point though, it was Ravindra Jadeja who came to assist him when he acknowledged what was going on inside the partner’s mind and did realize that some space needed to be created for them both in the middle.
At the end of Day 1, Ashwin told JioCinema that “He was a real help. There was a moment when I was sweating, perspiring and getting a little tired and he must have noticed it quickly enough to guide me through that phase.”
Ashwin also explained how this batting partner helped him by reducing the amount of running between the wickets at that time which worked well for the batsman.
With six wickets down, these senior players were out there in an unsure position with two remaining good batsmen of Indian 11. While savouring the Chennai atmosphere, they bravely chose to face off against Bangladesh’s pace attack and attacked its spinners instead.
Ashwin said, “He helps with such temperament and you know Jaddu has been one of the finest batsmen in our team for last few years when he was there quite solidly. Also very much assisted me in terms of suggesting that we don’t need to make twos into threes which was handy to me”.
Both Ashwin and Jadeja remained not out at stumps on the first day with a partnership of 195 runs. The former would be looking to continue while the latter would like to get to three figures as well taking India to a big first innings score.
But with day breaks from ball two starting day breaking and opening up the possibility for bangladeshi pacers like Hasan Mahmud who could be looking for fifer put an end to India’s innings.
