Veteran Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin has revealed Virender Sehwag's hilarious advice to him and Ravindra Jadeja ahead of the opening Test against Bangladesh at the Chepauk in Chennai. The 38-year-old, who peeled off an unbeaten hundred on day 1, disclosed that India must play according to the level of the opposition, given it is Bangladesh on this occasion.
The Tamil Nadu-born cricketer stood tall when India desperately needed him to as they slipped to 145-6 at one stage, losing KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal in quick succession. Nevertheless, Bangladesh failed to dislodge Ashwin and Jadeja despite their best efforts. The former got to his century only in 108 deliveries and put on an unbroken stand of 195 with Jadeja.
"On a surface like this, it's better to go hard like Rishabh does" - Ravichandran Ashwin
Following day 1's play, Ashwin commented that Rishabh Pant's counterattacking template is the way to go on a tricky surface like this. He also credited Jadeja for helping him when he was getting tired.
"On a surface like this, it's better to go hard like Rishabh does. It's an old-school Chennai surface with bounce and carry. When there is width, you can give it a tonk. Jadeja was of real help, there was a point where I was sweating and tiring but Jaddu helped me through the phase. He's been solid and one of our best batters. He told me we don't have to convert twos into threes, which helped me."
For Bangladesh, Hasan Mahmud was the pick of the bowlers, taking the first four wickets to fall.
