Whenever India finds themselves under pressure with the bat in hand, watching their top-order failing, the veteran all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin walks in and makes batting look so easy on a surface that could raise questions on the technique and temperament of the batters, and he repeated the same act during the first Test against Bangladesh at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
When Ravichandran Ashwin walked into the middle just before the tea break, the home side was struggling with 144 runs on the board for the loss of six wickets, and they didn’t have much batting left in the department. He shared a 195-run unbeaten stand for the seventh wicket on the first day with Ravindra Jadeja.
One of the key natures of the batting of the Chennai-born is how he manages to find different situations for scoring those runs. On a track when he found the pace bowling wreaking havoc, he decided to take on the spinners from the start and never allowed them to settle in the middle.
Ravichandran Ashwin joins Kapil Dev for this record in Test matches
The all-rounder from Tamil Nadu kept on nailing the boundaries from the start, besides using his feet to smash the ball over the boundary line for a six. He thanked his time during the Tamil Nadu Premier League (IPL), which helped him in getting the aggressive mindset out.
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“It’s an old-school Chennai surface with bounce and carry. When there is width, you can give it a tonk. Love playing when there is bounce and carry, enjoyed myself today.” Ravichandran Ashwin expressed at the end of the first day.
He went on to celebrate his sixth Test century, equaling MS Dhoni in the list, and that was also his second red-ball century at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, after celebrating a ton at the same ground in 2021 against England. In addition to the two centuries, he has also four five-wicket hauls at his home ground.
That means Ravichandran Ashwin is the first player in 36 years to score multiple centuries and pick more than one five-wicket haul at a single venue. Kapil Dev is the other Indian on the list who achieved the same feat in Chennai during his last tone against West Indies in 1988.
Along with these two, Ian Botham recorded the same feat at Leeds in Headingley with two centuries and three five-wicket hauls, while Chris Cains created the same record in Auckland. The former West Indies great Gary Sobers has also named the record in Leeds.
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Ravichandran Ashwin now has 3422 runs in 101 games at an average of 26.94 with the help of six centuries and 14 half-centuries with the best score of 124. He has also bagged 516 wickets at an average of under 24, registering 36 five-wicket hauls with the red ball.
He is now just the first player in the history of the game to slam more than twenty 50-plus scores and take more than 30 five-wicket hauls. India finished on 376 in the first innings.