India veteran cricketing star Ravichandran Ashwin helped India to dominate Bangladesh during Day 1 of the 1st Test match at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. He walked into the bat when India were 144/6 but his 195-run stand with Ravindra Jadeja helped the hosts to post 339/6 in 80 overs at Stumps.
Ashwin (102 not out) and Jadeja (86 not out) formed an impressive unbroken seventh-wicket partnership, adding 195 runs in 174 minutes off 225 balls. This came after young pacer Hasan Mahmud's impressive spell of 4 for 58 had left India struggling at 144 for six, despite a solid 56 from Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Commenting on Jadeja's role in his knock, Ashwin said, "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."
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He also revealed that the second day will help bowlers because the ball with spin and bounce at Chepauk's pitch.
"(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", he added.
Ashwin and Jadeja joined an illustrious group of Indian batting pairs that includes Kapil Dev and Syed Kirmani, as they became only the third pair to exceed 500 partnership runs for the seventh wicket or lower in Tests on home soil. This was the second time they added over 100 runs together, following their 130-run partnership against Sri Lanka in Mohali.
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