Michael Vaughan lauds R. Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja’s fightback during 1st day of Chennai Test

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan has come out and lauded Indian stars R. Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. The two all-rounders displayed an excellent show with the bat in the first Test match against Bangladesh in Chennai.

Taking to X, Vaughan wrote, “Some cricketers… @ashwinravi99 and @imjadeja.. How often at home in India do they produce magic with the bat. They will no doubt follow with the ball as well.”

R. Ashwin came out to bat with India struggling at 144/6 having lost KL Rahul. By the end of the day, Ashwin and Jadeja had added unbeaten 195 runs for the 7th wicket. The stand came in a mere 226 balls as both batters showed aggressive intent. 

The veteran Indian star went onto score his 6th Test century and was not out on 102 off 112 balls. His knock contained 10 fours and 2 sixes. Ravindra Jadeja, on the other hand, was not out on 86 off 117 balls with the same number of boundaries as his partner. 

R. Ashwin reflects on ‘Special’ knock

While speaking to Ravi Shastri at the end of the day, R. Ashwin said, “Always a special feeling to play in front of the home crowd. This is a ground I completely love to play cricket in. It's given me a lot of wonderful memories. The last time I got a hundred, you were the coach Ravi bhai It does feel special. It helps that I have come back at the back of a T20 tournament (TNPL), worked quite a bit on my batting at the end of the day.”

The Indian star was asked if there was any changes he had made to his batting to which he said, “Of course, I have always been wafting my bat around outside off-stump. 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.”

Ravi Shastri also asked Ashwin about the playing surface in Chennai which has seen pacers have the say so far. Replying to his Ashwin said, "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.”

Bangladesh bowled just 80 overs in the day and were 10 overs short despite an extra 30 minutes being played. The visitors will have the use of the 2nd new ball first thing in the morning. Both Ashwin and Jadeja know they have a fight on their hands as they will look to push India to a huge total.