Bangladesh held the upper hand when they reduced India to 144-6 on day one of the first Test of the two-match series, at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk.
At this point, R Ashwin joined Ravindra Jadeja. The pair added 195 for the seventh wicket to take India to 339-6 by stumps as the momentum shifted completely over the course of the day. Jadeja finished the day on 86 and Ashwin on 102.
From 144-6 to 339-6
— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) September 19, 2024
Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja show at Chepauk on day 1 😍#RavichandranAshwin #India #INDvsBAN #Cricket #Tests #RavindraJadeja pic.twitter.com/is8idC172i
This is the best partnership for India against Bangladesh for any wicket below the fifth. The record for any wicket still lies with Shikhar Dhawan and M Vijay, who put on 283 at Fatullah in 2015. There are three other double-hundred stands, one of 259 (Rahul Dravid and Gautam Gambhir), and two worth 222 (Dravid & Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli & Ajinkya Rahane).
It is also the second-best stand for any wicket for India against Bangladesh at home - Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane had put on 222 at Hyderabad in 2016/17 - and the second-best partnership for the seventh wicket against Bangladesh, after the unbroken 223 between Prasanna Jayawardene and Chaminda Vaas at the SSC in 2007.
Jadeja and Ashwin previously added 130 for the seventh wicket against Sri Lanka at Mohali in 2021/22. They became the fifth Indian pair with two century partnerships for the seventh wicket or below, after Farokh Engineer and Bapu Nadkarni, Ravi Shastri and Syed Kirmani, Roger Binny and Madan Lal, and MS Dhoni and VVS Laxman.
This is also the highest seventh-wicket partnership at Chepauk, eclipsing Karun Nair and Jadeja’s 138 against England in 2016/17. There are five higher stands on Indian soil for the seventh wicket, of 280, 259, 235, 224, and 199. The record of 280 was set by Rohit Sharma and Ashwin, against the West Indies at Kolkata in 2013/14.
Ashwin now has the joint-most hundreds from No.8 (along with Daniel Vettori). He has two hundreds from other positions.
Among batters with six Test hundreds, no one has as many five-wicket hauls as Ashwin’s 36. Ian Botham (27) is a distant second. No one has as many ten-wicket hauls as his eight either (Imran Khan is next, with six).
This was also Ashwin’s 20th score in excess of fifty. Using that as cut-off, he leads both the above tables yet again, with Botham and Imran at the respective second places. In fact, Ashwin, Botham, Imran, Vettori, and Kapil Dev are the only ones with 20 fifty-plus scores and 20 five-wicket hauls.
Jadeja also reached his fifty for the 25th time in his Test career. Of all cricketers to have done this, only Botham (27), Kapil (23), Vettori (20), and Shakib Al Hasan (19) have more five-wicket hauls than Jadeja’s 13, while Chris Cairns also has 13. In the same group, only Botham (4) and Vettori (3) have more ten-wicket hauls, while Tony Greig, Kapil, and Shakib match Jadeja’s count of two.
While not a record, it is worth a mention that Jadeja (112 against England at Rajkot) and Ashwin have both scored Test hundreds at their respective home venues in 2024.
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