IND vs BAN: Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja save India the blushes on day one
Hyderabad: Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja helped India recover well from early hiccups to end the first day’s play at a commanding 339/6 in the first Test against Bangladesh at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Thursday.
Ashwin was unbeaten on 102 with Jadeja unbeaten on 86 when stumps were drawn on the first day. The duo added an unbroken 195 runs for the seventh wicket and sent the Bangladesh bowlers on a leather hunt in the second half of the day.
The partnership of 195 is now the highest for the seventh wicket in Chennai, surpassing Jadeja and Karun Nair’s previous record of 138 runs scored against England in 2016.
Ashwin reached his century in 108 balls with the help of 10 fours and two sixes. This was Ashwin’s second consecutive Test century at the MA Chidambaram Stadium – also known as Chepauk – with him scoring 106 against England in 2021, the last time India played a Test match in Chennai.
The duo started the rescue work after India were precariously placed at 144/6 in 43 overs.
Ashwin was the aggressor as he took no time to adjust to the conditions – which are not alien to him as he is from the city – and played a variety of shots while Jadeja played second fiddle.
After settling down, Jadeja too joined Ashwin and the duo kept the scoreboard moving at a brisk pace and they remained unbeaten at stumps.
Earlier, Bangladesh won the toss and put India to bat first under cloudy skies. The Bangladesh pacers extracted good bounce and kept the ball moving, creating plenty of doubts in the Indian batters and exposing them to swinging conditions.
Hasan Mahmud was the wrecker-in-chief when he took the early wickets of captain Rohit Sharma, who was done by swing, Shubman Gill, who perished while playing one down the leg side, and the big wicket of Virat Kohli who only got a nick to an attempted drive on the up.
Yashaswi Jaiswal patiently held fort at the other end and did a mini-rescue act with Rishabh Pant but the wicket-keeper perished to Mahmud.
Nahid Rana (1/80) and Mehidy Hasan Miraz (1/77) picked up a wicket each for Bangladesh.
Brief scores: India 339/6 in 80 overs (Ravichandran Ashwin 102 batting, Ravindra Jadeja 86 batting, Yashasvi Jaiswal 56; Hasan Mahmud 4/58).
