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'Hard Like Rishabh Does' - Ashwin Reveals His Learnings From Pant After  Century Against Bangladesh

Ashwin scored a century in the 1st Test against Bangladesh (X.com)Ashwin scored a century in the 1st Test against Bangladesh (X.com)

Ravichandran Ashwin is one of the biggest match-winners for India in Test cricket in the last decade or so, and with each passing year, the man is taking his game a notch higher. He is a world-class off-spinner and has always been a handy contributor with the bat, but in the last few years, his batting has improved by leaps and bounds, and it is safe to say that he is a genuine all-rounder, atleast in Indian conditions.

The Tamil Nadu-lad strengthen his stature of an all-rounder even more on the opening day of the first Test match with a fantastic counter-attacking century under pressure. Ashwin walked out to bat with India six down for 144 and in all sorts of trouble. The home team needed Jadeja and Ashwin to rescue them and they did that in style by notching up an unbeaten stand of 195 to ensure that there are no further hiccups.

Ashwin Takes Aggressive Route In Chennai

Ashwin's aggressive approach stood out, the batter started going for his shots right from the onset, and put the pressure back on Bangladesh. It was a pleasant surprise for everyone and after the day, Ashwin revealed that he adopted Pant's approach of going after the bowling as the pitch was bit spicy and it was hard to survive. He also added that the pitch being a red-soil one allows batters to play some shots and that is exactly what he did.

"Worked on a few things and on a surface like this with a bit of spice, if you're going after the ball, might as well go after it really hard like Rishabh does. It's an old Chennai surface with a bit of bounce and carry. The red soil pitch allows you to play a few shots if you are willing to just get in line and give it a bit of a tonk when there's width."

Ravi Ashwin also added that the pitch will start doing its tricks later in the game and there is good carry for the pacers and help for the pacers. He added that India would have to start afresh on Day 2 and stated that when the pitch dries up, it will quicken up a bit.

"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."

There were only 80 overs bowled on Day 1 due to slow over-rate and Bangladesh would have to pull their socks up and come up with aggressive intent again to bowl out India as quickly as possible on Day 2. The pitch is not easy to bat on, and Indian bowlers with their quality are expected to trouble Bangladesh batters in the second innings of the Test match.