Local hero Ravichandran Ashwin became the oldest player to score a Test century and take a five-wicket haul in a Test match as India thrashed Bangladesh by 280 runs in the first Test at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday morning. (Day 4 Highlights | More Cricket News)
India needed six more wickets to win when day 4 started. Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto and all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, the overnight batters, showed resilience in the first hour of play. But the spin duo of Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja managed to get all six wickets in the next hour.
Ashwin and Jadeja were also involved in a 199-run stand on the first day after India were reeling at 144/6 on a seam-friendly pitch. Ashwin went on to score his sixth Test ton and Jadeja missed a well-deserving hundred by 14 runs.
India made 376 runs in the first innings as Hasan Mahmud took five wickets and Taskin Ahmed grabbed three wickets. In response, Jasprit Bumrah started with a wicket in the first over when he bowled the southpaw Shadman Islam on the last delivery of the first over.
Akash Deep struck with two wickets in two deliveries to put the visitors on the back foot. He first bowled Zakir Hasan then Mominul Haque in the first two deliveries of the ninth over.
Bangladesh somehow managed to get to 149 all out as Bumrah took four wickets and Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, and Ravindra Jadeja shared two wickets each.
India were leading by 227 runs and with the help of Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant's centuries, they declared at 287/4 on the third day. Bangladesh needed 515 runs to win the Test match with seven sessions left.
Bangladesh openers started well and made India wait till the 17th over for the first wicket when Yashasvi Jaiswal took a blinder in the gully to dismiss Zakir Hasan off Bumrah's delivery.
Then Ashwin came into the attack and got his first wicket in the match by dismissing Shadman Islam. He soon removed Mominul Haque and Mushfiqur Rahim to get his second and third respectively before the end of the day's play.
Earlier, Pant scored his sixth Test century on the third day and equalled Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the most Test hundreds by an Indian wicket-keeper batter. Shubman Gill also hit his fifth Test hundred.
Jadeja and Ashwin shared three wickets each on the fourth day to help India win the match in the first session. Ashwin was given the Player of the Match for his performance. India are leading the two-match Test bilateral series 1-0. Now, the caravan will move to Green Park in Kanpur for the second Test match starting on 27th September.
