IND vs ENG 2nd Test LIVE Cricket Score Updates: Ravi Ashwin Scores A 100, A Quintessential All-round Performance Winning The Match For India
Picking up five important wickets in the first England innings and then scoring a much important knock of 100+ took India’s total well past 450. Ashwin’s emergence as a complete all-rounder has ignited a spark in India’s lower-order hopes.
Ravi Ashwin scored his third century against England at his home ground in Chennai. It takes a lot more than just a fluke or luck to hit Stuart Broad for a boundary straight over his head with a straight bat. Ashwin hit a straight boundary when he was batting on 71 with Ishant Sharma. It must have made many of the top order batsmen proud with the way Ashwin has batted in the second innings. India’s position was extremely weak when Ashwin came on to bat. It looked as if India would throw away the lead in a cheap manner. The score was 106-6 when Ashwin walked in to bat alongside Kohli. Eventually, the lead went beyond 450 runs and India’s score also was way past 250 runs.
Even after Kohli departed when the score was 202- just four short of a hundred run partnership with Ashwin- the spinner took the game ahead forming small partnerships with the tail-enders and adding on to some crucial runs.
His first innings spell of five wickets was memorable for him. He surpassed Harbhajan Singh’s tally of picking the most wickets on Indian soil. Ashwin’s average of 28.13 in Test matches is a great number considering he comes to bat at number seven or eight. After he burst on to the Test scene against West Indies in 2011, Ashwin has been consistent since then, not just in his forte which is bowling, but also as a batsman, he has played some very crucial innings for India. It’s imperative to know that Ashwin began his career as a batsman and perhaps, that is the reason for him being good at batting as well.
This innings will stay with Ashwin for a long time as not many batsmen managed to score runs on this difficult pitch.