experienced off spinner ravichandran ashwin scored his sixth Test century at home and also ravindra jadeja Ashwin (102 batting) and Jadeja (86 batting) shared an unbeaten 195-run stand (174 minutes, 225 balls) for the seventh wicket after the young pacer came up with a superb 339 for six to help India recover from crisis and post a strong 339 for six on the first day of the first Test against Bangladesh on Thursday. Hassan Mahmud (4/58) restricted India to 144 for six, despite Yashasvi Jaiswal He scored 56 runs.
The day’s play was full of ups and downs and most of the time revolved around Ashwin, Jadeja and Mahmood, who made his Test debut in March this year and had played just three matches in the format before this match.
In a brilliant maiden bowling spell of 5-2-6-3, the 24-year-old Mahmood dismissed all the Indian top-order batsmen. Rohit Sharma (6), Shubman Gill (0) and Virat Kohli (6) — before snapping Rishabh PantHe returned to Test cricket in the early moments of the second session (39 off 52 balls).
KL RahulAnother Indian batsman, making a comeback into the Indian Test team, was dismissed for 16 off the bowling of the off-spinner. Mehndi Hasan Like the pendulum of fortune, Mirage remained firmly in the Bangladesh quarter.
But then came two players who know Chepauk well – Ashwin by birth and Jadeja, who has been associated with Chennai Super Kings for a long time.
Another wicket at that stage would have given Bangladesh an edge, but Ashwin and Jadeja were not bothered by that.
Ashwin hit a flurry of boundaries right from the start, a testament to his effortless timing born out of smooth hand movement and precise footwork during his shots.
Mahmood played a ramp shot, in which he tried to trouble Ashwin with a short-pitched delivery, which hit his body.
But the veteran tilted himself back slightly to create space to turn the ball up the ramp over the slips – brilliant in concept and execution.
He has often scored at a strike rate in excess of 100 and has not shied away from playing the most unruly shots. His slog sweep over mid-wicket for six off left-arm spinner Shakib al-Hasan is proof of that.
Jadeja’s approach was a little different. The left-hander felt Ashwin was in good rhythm, so all he had to do was continue with his innings and he did so without any trouble.
Jadeja, adept at operating from behind the huge shadows of superstars, once again looked extremely comfortable doing so, giving Ashwin the necessary assurance.
But there were moments when the showman in Jadeja came to the fore and Shakib faced trouble, conceding three boundaries.
Bangladesh’s star of the day Mahmud was also not spared by Jadeja, who completed his half-century in 73 balls. He played a drag-pull on the ball of this fast bowler and hit a six.
At other times he wing-heeled down the pitch to score singles and twos, frustrating the Bangladesh bowlers.
The crowd finally got the moment they were waiting for when Ashwin completed his century by taking a single off Shakib and it was greeted with applause, cheers and loud bugle calls.
This was his second consecutive century at his home ground after crossing the three-figure mark here against England in 2021. And it couldn’t have come at a better time.
But before this big match, the Indian innings looked like a crumbling rampart. It is not often that a team winning the toss decides to bowl first here as it means chasing in the fourth innings.
But Bangladesh captain Nazmul Hussain Shanto He showed courage by going against the trend and was rewarded for it.
Rohit, who was rescued by DRS when on 1, was the first to be dismissed.
The Indian captain had no option but to play a wobbly seam ball that came towards him from a tight angle and the ball reached Shanto at second slip.
Gill lasted just eight balls but he felt unlucky and swept a delivery from Mahmood down the leg side past the stumps. litton slave,
Kohli entered the Chepauk ground amid loud cheers and looked confident. But an old weakness resurfaced and started troubling him.
Mahmood bowled a short length ball outside off stump, and this length was not suitable for drives.
But the star batsman decided to play a wide innings as the ball took the edge of his bat and went into Litton’s gloves.
Jaiswal and Pant temporarily halted the collapse by adding 62 for the fourth wicket but both were dismissed in quick succession in the middle session.
Bangladesh might have thought this effort was good enough to keep the home team under pressure, but Ashwin and Jadeja made them understand why it is so difficult to keep India behind for long on home soil.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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