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The Indian star on Monday scored his fifth Test century — and his first in four-and-a-half years — in a superb innings that essentially quashed any faint hope England had of conjuring an unlikely second Test victory.
Ashwin attempted to bring up his 100 with a grand slog to the leg-side, only to top-edge the ball towards short third-man. But the ball sailed over the fielder’s head and rolled to the boundary for four, prompting wild celebrations from the usually measured Ashwin — and batting partner Mohammed Siraj — and a rapturous from his home Chennai fans.
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The right-hander, who survived two drop catches on 28 and 56, smashed 14 fours and one six before he was eventually dismissed for 106 off just 148 balls. He was the last Indian wicket to fall with the score at 286, leaving England with a daunting target of 486 runs to win.
The tourists then lost three wickets in the final session — Ashwin picked up Rory Burns’ wicket — to be 3-53 at stumps.
A day earlier, Ashwin claimed 5-43 — his 29th five-wicket haul — to help skittle England for a paltry 134. In the process, he became the second-highest wicket-taker for India at home, overtaking Harbhajan Singh (265).
The great all-round performance saw Ashwin become just the second player in Test history to take a five-wicket haul and score a century in the same Test at least three times. Only England great Sir Ian Botham (five times) has reached that feat more often. Jacques Kallis, Sir Garfield Sobers, Shakib Al Hasan and Mushtaq Mohammad had only done it twice.
Prior to Monday’s innings, Ashwin hadn’t scored a century since August 2016 and hadn’t passed 50 since August 2017.
Ashwin and Botham are also now the only two players in Test history to have recorded five centuries and 25 five-wicket hauls in their careers.
Yet the 34-year-old played with freedom and confidence he hasn’t displayed with the bat for years as he consistently found the boundary rope all around the ground. But it came after showing great patience at the start of his innings as he and captain Virat Kohli rebuild India’s second innings after a shaky start.
England assistant coach Graham Thorpe on Sunday said it the Chennai surface was one of the most difficult batting pitches he had seen. But Ashwin said batsmen had to adapt on a spinners’ pitch, like they do on tracks that favour fast bowlers.
“It’s about being very patient (on a turning track) like you play on a seaming wicket. You need to really tide through the early phase and then start putting runs on the board,” Ashwin said on Sunday.
Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar lauded Ashwin for his ability to back up his efforts with the ball.
“He has walked the talk,” Gavaskar said on the BCCI broadcast. “What he said yesterday, he’s put into action today.”
Kohli and Ashwin put on 96 runs for the seventh wicket, resisting for over two hours, after spinners Jack Leach and Moeen Ali hit back in the morning session with two wickets apiece.
Kohli, who failed to score in the first innings, took 20 balls to get off the mark but moved on to his 25th Test fifty.
He finally fell to Ali’s off spin, trapped LBW for 62 and walked back after an unsuccessful TV review.
— with AFP