India's Ravichandran Ashwin delivered a blistering century and joined forces with Ravindra Jadeja in a remarkable rearguard effort as the hosts recovered from a top-order collapse to reach 339 for six against Bangladesh on the first day of the opening Test on Thursday.
Bangladesh seamer Hasan Mahmud's three-wicket burst in the morning session left India struggling at 34-3 within the first hour at the M.A.Chidambaram Stadium. Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal contributed 56, but it was the unbroken 195-run partnership for the seventh wicket between Ashwin and Jadeja that propelled India back into contention. Ashwin's unbeaten 102 off 112 balls, his sixth Test century, featured 10 fours and two sixes. Jadeja, on 86, was nearing his fifth Test century.
"It's always special to play in front of the home crowd, and this is a ground I absolutely adore. On a surface like this, it's better to play aggressively, just like Rishabh (Pant) does. It's a classic Chennai pitch with bounce and carry," Ashwin remarked.
"When there's width, you can really go for it. I love playing on pitches with bounce and carry, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself today." Jadeja was a significant help, as there was a point where I was feeling the strain, but Jaddu got me through that phase. He's been solid and one of our best batters. He advised me not to convert twos into threes, which was really helpful (smiles).
Bangladesh, buoyed by their 2-0 series sweep in Pakistan earlier this month, dominated the first two sessions after captain Najmul Hossain Shanto chose to field. Home captain Rohit Sharma (six) took 11 balls to get off the mark and narrowly avoided a vociferous lbw appeal before edging Hasan to Shanto at second slip. In his next over, Hasan had Shubman Gill caught behind for a duck, tickling the ball down the leg side. Virat Kohli also fell to a soft dismissal, driving away from his body to be caught behind for six.
Despite challenging conditions and departing partners, Jaiswal remained undeterred and played elegant drives and exquisite flicks. Rishabh Pant (39), returning to Test cricket after a horrific car crash in December 2022, played fearlessly, cutting and pulling with gusto and scoring quickly to put pressure back on the bowlers. Hasan broke the 62-run stand shortly after lunch when Pant's lazy waft to a delivery wide outside the off-stump resulted in another soft dismissal. Nahid Rana ended Jaiswal's fluent knock, and spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz removed KL Rahul before Ashwin and Jadeja launched a spectacular counter-attack.
