Former Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik has praised all-rounders Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja after their rescue feat on the first day of the first Test against Bangladesh. Notably, Ashwin joined Jadeja in batting as India reeled at 144/6.
The duo put on a massive 199-run stand for the seventh wicket and took India to safety. Ashwin scored his sixth Test hundred while Jadeja scored a brilliant 86 to take India to 376 in the first innings. Commenting on their outstanding batting performance, Karthik mentioned how excellent the duo was for India, bringing all their experience to the table.
IND vs. BAN 1. Test day 2 live
“The way they batted was outstanding. Their experience, their start, the kind of shots Ashwin played, the backfoot punch on the first serve… Jadeja going over mid-on and making boundaries. They came with singles and odd boundaries, hit their milestones and became much more confident. Then they went ahead and played excellent shots,” Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
Continuing his speech, the former wicket-keeper mentioned India’s deep pool of all-rounders and said that both Ashwin and Jadeja will be worth significantly more when they hang up their boots.
“What an all-rounder team we have. Axar Patel is not playing and that is understandable. Sometimes I feel that people only appreciate them when they are gone and these two guys will be appreciated a lot more when they are finished. These two have been phenomenal for India in this format,” he added.
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Ashwin’s century was his second consecutive hundred at his home ground in Chennai, having already scored a lot against England in 2021. He equalled MS Dhoni and MAK Pataudi in terms of Test centuries for India All three can look back on six centuries.
Having already scored a hundred in the first innings, Ashwin will now be looking to score a five with the ball and make it the fourth time that he has scored a hundred and a five in the same Test. The Indian all-rounder is second on the list after legendary English all-rounder Ian Botham, who achieved this feat five times in his career.
