Indian ace spinner Ravichandran Ashwin registered his sixth Test century in the first Test against Bangladesh on Thursday, September 19. India hosted Bangladesh for the first of the two-match Test series at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. The play started off on a disappointing note for the hosts as they found themselves reduced to 34-3, owing to the bowling heroics of Hasan Mahmud.
India were in a tough spot as all their batters failed to perform on the favourable conditions of home. However, that’s when spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin held their nerves and built a 195* run stand to get the side beyond the 300-run mark. The 38-year-old proved to be his side’s guiding light as he came up with his sixth Test century off 108 deliveries. The Chennai-born raised his bat and helmet high acknowledging the ton in front of the home crow d . His teammates including the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, and head coach Gautam Gambhir gave him a standing ovation from the stand.
Always a special feeling to play in front of home crowd: Chennai boy Ravichandran Ashwin
After bringing up another memorable century, Ashwin expressed his happiness of being able to do so in front of the home ground. He said, “Always a special feeling to play in front of the home crowd. This is a ground I completely love to play cricket in. It’s given me a lot of wonderful memories. The last time I got a hundred, you were the coach Ravi bhai (Ravi Shastri). It does feel special.”
Not only this, but he also highlighted that since he has come at the back of a T20 tournament, it helped him work on his batting. He added, “It helps that I have come back at the back of a T20 tournament (TNPL), worked quite a bit on my batting. Of course, I have always been wafting my bat around outside off-stump. Worked on a few things and on a surface like this with a bit of spice, if you’re going after the ball, might as well go after it really hard like Rishabh does. It’s an old Chennai surface with a bit of bounce and carry. The red soil pitch allows you to play a few shots if you are willing to just get in line and give it a bit of a tonk when there’s width.”