NEWS
Follow UsHe might have missed out on scoring his fastest fifty in Tests by a whisker, but Ravichandran Ashwin made up for it by smashing his fastest-ever century in Tests.
The right-hander got to his ton off just 108 balls, brutalizing his previous record which was a 117-ball ton which came against West Indies in 2011 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
The ton is Ashwin’s sixth century in Test cricket and his fourth from No.7 and below. For India, only Kapil Dev (7) has more centuries from No.7 and below in Tests.
Fastest century for Ravichandran Ashwin in Tests
108 balls vs Bangladesh, Chennai, 2024
117 balls vs West Indies, Mumbai, 2011
134 balls vs England, Chennai, 2021
159 balls vs West Indies, Kolkata, 2013
The century is Ashwin’s second at Chepauk, his home ground. The 38-year-old’s last ton at Chepauk came against England in 2021 when he posted 106 in the second Test of the four-Test series. In the same contest, Ashwin also picked up a five-wicket haul.
This was a knock of proper substance from Ashwin; a counter-attack like no other. India were in a deep spot of bother at 144/6 when he walked in. But he smashed a four on just his second ball and never looked back. The right-hander got to his fifty off 58 balls and needed 50 more balls for the second fifty.
With this century, Ashwin has become the fourth-oldest Indian to hit a century in Test cricket. Only Vijay Merchant, Rahul Dravid and Vinoo Mankad were older when they hit a Test ton for India. On the day, from 144/6, the 38-year-old stitched together an unbroken 195-run stand with his partner-in-crime, Ravindra Jadeja.
India ended the day on 339/6, in firm control after being put into bat.
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