Special feeling: Ashwin on scoring century at home ground Chepauk

Ravichandran Ashwin scored his second century at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, popularly known as Chepauk. His ton came in only 108 balls against Bangladesh on September 19 (Thursday), making it his fastest Test century.

“Always a special feeling to play in front of the home crowd. This is a ground I completely love to play cricket in. It's given me a lot of wonderful memories,” said the Indian spinner in an end-of-the-day interview with the host broadcaster. 

“The last time I got a hundred, you were the coach Ravi bhai (Ravi Shastri). It does feel special. It helps that I have come back at the back of a T20 tournament (TNPL), and worked quite a bit on my batting,” he added. 

Ashwin’s last century at this ground came in 2021 against England, when he reached the milestone in 134 balls. 

The 38-year-old thanked his partner at the other end Ravindra Jadeja, with whom he put on an unbeaten 195 off just 225 balls for the seventh wicket. 

“He (Jadeja) was of real help, there was a point in time where I was sweating and getting a bit tired, Jaddu noticed it quickly and guided me through that phase,” he said. 

“Jaddu has been one of our best batters for our team in the last few years. He was also very helpful in terms of telling me that we don't have to convert twos into threes which was helpful for me,” he added. Jadeja went to the dressing room unbeaten at 86 and would be looking to convert it into a hundred on Day 2. 

Talking about the pitch, Ashwin, who smashed his sixth ton in the red-ball format, said, “It's a typical, old-fashioned Chennai pitch where overspin will fetch a bit of bounce. The wicket will start doing its tricks much later in the game. There's enough in it for the quicks, good carry, good bounce if we present the seam nice and hard.” 

“The new ball will do a bit, there'll be some help for the bowlers, we'll have to start afresh tomorrow. There's a bit in the pitch, it's still damp underneath, so hopefully as it dries out, it quickens up,” he added, predicting how the pitch would behave in the coming days.

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