Fantashtic!

R Ashwin celebrates his century against Bangladesh yesterday. Pic/PTI

On a day of two dazzlingly contrasting halves, R Ashwin conjured the perfect homecoming at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday. The opening day of India's first Test of the home season went pear-shaped inside the first hour when, on a strikingly atypical Indian surface with considerable bounce and generous seam movement, Hasan Mahmud ripped the heart out of the top order. Put in by Najmul Hasan Shanto, India slumped to 34-3, rallied briefly through a fourth-wicket alliance of 62 between Yashasvi Jaiswal and comeback man Rishabh Pant, then lost three more wickets to find themselves staring down the barrel at 144-6.

Ash gets big reception

Enter Ashwin, to a rapturous reception from the 10,371-strong gathering at a ground where he cut his teeth in representative cricket. In his last Test outing at this venue, against England in February 2021, the strapping right-hander brought up his fifth Test hundred; three and a half years later, he blazed to a sixth three-figure knock, an authoritative effort to celebrate his 38th birthday, which fell on Tuesday.

Also Read: IND vs BAN 1st Test | "I try to bat according to the requirements of my team": Yashasvi Jaiswal

Ashwin couldn't have done it all on his own. His partner during an unseparated seventh-wicket stand of 195 was spin twin Ravindra Jadeja, who played admirable second fiddle without sacrificing flair or aggression. Ashwin took most of the plaudits for his subliminal timing and great elegance, but Jadeja was hardly shaded as India breezed to 339-6 at the end of an entertaining day's play. The only downer was that despite the extra half-hour, Bangladesh only bowled 80 overs.

With his father Ravichandran in attendance, Ashwin treated the decent audience to a stunning display of stroke-making, standing tall to punch off the back foot, leaning forward to drive handsomely through the covers, working the ball square on the on-side and unleashing the big strokes against the spinners. It was a supreme exhibition of complete control during 174 minutes of near-flawless batting, time enough for him to become the first cricketer in Test history to stack up 20 50-plus scores in addition to 30 five-wicket hauls.

Jadeja plays himself in

Realising the mood his partner was in, Jadeja played within himself, feeding Ashwin the strike, but producing several handsome strokes of his own. Consequently, the mood in the respective dressing rooms went from agony to ecstasy [for India] and delight to anguish [for Bangladesh].

The lead-up to the game was dominated by the six-foot-five Nahid Rana, but it was Mahmud, like Rana in his fourth Test, who made the early dents by winkling out Rohit Sharma with a peach, strangling Shubman Gill down leg to a well-crafted plan and eliciting a loose stroke outside off from Virat Kohli. Jaiswal and Pant were unfazed and looked set for the long haul, when the latter threw his hand away against Mahmud and the former became Rana's first victim. It seemed all doom and gloom then, reflecting the weather, until Ashwin and Jadeja made hay as the sun belatedly broke through.

2
No. of centuries scored by R Ashwin in his last two Tests in Chennai (including this one)

Brief scores
India 339-6 (R Ashwin 102', R Jadeja 86', Y Jaiswal 56, R Pant 39; H Mahmud 4-58) v Bangladesh