"Worked a bit on batting…" Ravi Ashwin opens up after smashing his sixth test hundred in 1st IND vs BAN test

Ravi Ashwin notched up his sixth test hundred.

Veteran Indian all-rounder Ravi Ashwin played a fighting knock during the opening day of the Chennai test between India and Bangladesh on September 19.

After being asked to bat first, India’s top order failed to perform with the bat. Bangladesh speedster Hasan Mahmud took four wickets of captain Rohit Sharma (6), Shubman Gill (0), Virat Kohli (6), and Rishabh Pant (39).

Yashasvi Jaiswal played a crucial knock of 56 runs before getting out to seamer Nashid Rana. At one point, India were struggling at 144-6 after KL Rahul’s departure.

Then came Ravichandran Ashwin and started playing positive cricket by attacking Bangladesh bowlers. Ashwin, along with Jadeja, ensured that the hosts don’t lose any wicket till stumps on day 1 of the Chennai test.

Ravi Ashwin slammed his sixth test century and remained not out at 102 runs, whereas Ravindra Jadeja stayed unbeaten at 86. The duo also stitched an unbeaten 195-run partnership as India finished at 339/6 at stumps.

Always a special feeling playing in front of the home crowd: Ravichandran Ashwin

After the end of day 1 of the first test match between India and Bangladesh, Ravi Ashwin said that he loved playing in front of his home crowd. The senior cricketer added that he worked on his batting and it had helped him.

“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. It helps that I have come back at the back of a T20 tournament (TNPL), worked quite a bit on my batting,” Ravichandran Ashwin said after the end of day 1 of the Chennai test between India and Bangladesh.

Ravi Ashwin further added that if any batter has to go after the ball, then he should go hard like Rishabh Pant does. Talking about the Chennai surface, Ashwin said that it’s an old surface with a bit of bounce and carry.

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,” Ravi Ashwin added.

Ravindra Jadeja was a real help: Ravichandran Ashwin

R Ashwin further revealed that at one point he was really sweating and got tired, but all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja helped and guided him during that phase. The 38-year-old hailed Jadeja for performing well with the bat in the last few years.

“He (Jadeja) was of real help, there was a point in time where I was really sweating and getting a bit tired, Jaddu noticed it quickly and guided me through that phase. Jaddu has been one of our best batters for our team in the last few years. Him being there, pretty solid and 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,” Ashwin further said.

When Ashwin was asked how he sees the pitch behaving on day 2, he responded that the wicket might overspin and will generate a bit of bounce as well.

“(How will the pitch behave tomorrow?) 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. There’s a bit in the pitch, it’s still damp underneath, so hopefully as it dries out, it quickens up,” the 38-year-old concluded.

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