It’s an old-school Chennai surface with bounce and carry: Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin hit a brilliant counterattacking hundred to take India to a strong position at stumps on day one of the Chennai Test.
Three years since his last Test hundred, which also came at the very same venue, Ravichandran Ashwin cracked his sixth Test hundred to lift India from the gloom on day one of the first Test against Bangladesh.
Opting to bowl first, Bangladesh had India on their haunches after a terrific opening spell from Hasan Mahmud, who accounted for Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli early on.
Mahmud also sent back Rishabh Pant to snare his fourth before India lost a couple more quick wickets. At 144/6, the onus was on the all-rounder duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Ashwin to save India and they did so in spectacular fashion.
Ranked No.1 and No.2 in the ICC Men’s Test all-rounder rankings, Jadeja and Ashwin stitched together an unbeaten 195-run stand to take India to stumps with the score reading 339/6.
Ashwin, who was in top form at his home ground in Chennai, smashed his first Test century in three years to finish unbeaten on 102* at stumps on day one with Jadeja 14 runs away from reaching triple figures.
ICC Men’s Test All-Rounder Rankings
Ashwin’s last Test hundred came at the same venue against England in 2021. Like in this Test, Ashwin then saved India from a tricky situation in the second innings. Walking in at 86/5, Ashwin made 106 to help India to a fighting total.
With good bounce and carry, India struggled early on against the new ball, but Ashwin stated that he liked batting on the pitch.
“On a surface like this, it’s better to go hard like Rishabh [Pant] does,” Ashwin told Ravi Shastri at the end of the day’s play.
“It’s an old-school Chennai surface with bounce and carry. When there is width, you can give it a tonk. Jadeja was of real help, there was a point where I was sweating and tiring but Jaddu helped me through that phase. He’s been solid and one of our best batters in the last few years. He told me we don’t have to convert twos into threes, which helped me immensely.”