Srinagar: Indian Cricket legends have all hailed Ravichandran Ashwin after the veteran all-rounder saved India on Day 1 of first Test vs Bangladesh and also went on to equal MS Dhoni’s Test century record.
From Sachin Tendulkar to Saurav Ganguly all have praised Ashwin who alongwith Jadeja saved India after early setbacks.
India were reduced to 144 for six by Bangladesh pacers. But local hero Ravichandran Ashwin combined with Ravindra Jadeja to stitch a valiant unbeaten stand of 195 runs that helped revive India, leaving them at 339 for six at Stumps.
Ashwin eventually reached his sixth Test century, equalling former India captain MS Dhoni’s career tally, which was also his second at home and the fastest in his career, having reached the mark in 108 balls.
The knock also saw Ashwin emulate Sachin Tendulkar’s feat of scoring back-to-back tons in Chepauk. Ashwin had notched up his maiden century at his home ground in the second Test match against England in 2021. Tendulkar, on the other hand, holds the record of scoring a hat-trick of tons in Chennai – 155* against Australia in 1998, 136 against Pakistan in 199 and 126 against the Aussies in 2001.
The unbeaten 195-run stand between Ashwin and Jadeja is currently the highest partnership for seventh wicket or below for India against Bangladesh in Test cricket. The duo went past the previous best of 133 between Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan for the 10th wicket in Dhaka in 2004.
This is also the duo’s best partnership, surpassing their previous best of 130 against Sri Lanka in Mohali last March. Overall, Ashwin has been involved in four seven-wicket stands, only behind former India captain Dhoni (7).
Meanwhile, Ashwin climbed to the second spot in the list of most Test centuries at No. 8 or below. His current knock is his fourth such instance, taking his past Pakistan’s Kamran Akmal and leaves him only behind New Zealand legend Daniel Vettori.