Coming straight from their first ever Test series win against Pakistan, a 2-0 whitewash, in the latter’s own backyard, marking only their third Test series win away from home, a buoyant Bangladesh must have crossed the border harbouring dreams of possibly doing the same to the formidable Indian side.
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But perhaps it was too much of an ask as, despite giving an initial scare to the home team after putting them to bat first, they slumped to a crushing 280 runs defeat at the hands of the No. 2 ranked team in the latest ICC Test rankings before lunch on the fourth day in the first Test of a two-Test series at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday.
Despite their top guns, especially captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, not firing, the Test witnessed individual Indian players achieving a matchful of milestones.
Ravichandran Ashwin
The hero of the match was quite obviously the home-grown Player of the Match Ravichandran Ashwin, with a sparkling century (113 off 133 balls, 11 fours and two sixes) in the first innings and a six-for (6 for 88) in the second.
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With that he increased the tally of his five-wicket hauls in Test matches to 37 and Test centuries to four. He has also added one more golden double of a century and a five-for in an inning of the same Test to take his total to four.
In doing so the star Indian allrounder added several milestones to his name.
The Indian offspinner has broken star Australia’s spinner Nathan Lyon’s record of most five-wicket hauls in the World Test Championship (WTC) history, since its inaugural held in 2019. In 43 matches played for the 2023 WTC winners Australia, Lyon has picked up 10 five-wicket hauls, whereas Ashwin now has 11 five-wicket hauls to his name in 36 WTC matches for India.
With a haul of 176 wickets in the WTC, Ashwin has become the first Indian to take 175 wickets in the history of the competition. He has also overtaken Australian captain and pace bowler Pat Cummins to go second in the list of all-time highest wicket-takers in the history of the WTC and is just 11 wickets shy of the first placed Lyon.
Highest wicket takers in the history of WTC:
Nathan Lyon (Australia) – 187
Ravichandran Ashwin (India) – 176
Pat Cummins (Australia) – 175
Mitchell Starc (Australia) – 147
Stuart Broad (England) – 134
Apart from this, Ashwin has become the first player in cricket history to score minimum 20 fifty-plus scores and claim 30+ five-wicket hauls in Tests. He has also become the 5th player worldwide, and 2nd Indian, to take multiple five-wicket hauls and hit multiple centuries at the same venue.
The Indian great on Saturday equalled late Australian spinning wizard Shane Warne’s feat of 37 five-wicket hauls in Test cricket, placing him joint second behind only Sri Lankan all-time great Muthiah Muralitharan’s astounding 67 five-wicket hauls.
He also sits just behind former England allrounder Ian Botham for achieving the golden double of a century and a five-wicket haul in an inning in the same Test. Ashwin has now achieved it on four occasions, against five occasions by Botham.
Jasprit Bumrah
The Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah has achieved a landmark of 400 international wickets in all three formats, becoming only the sixth Indian pacer to breach this mark and the third fastest to it after the legendary Kapil Dev and Mohammed Shami. He now has a tally of 401 wickets – 163 in Tests, 149 in ODIs and 89 in T20Is.
Bumrah took 227 innings to breach the 400-wicket milestone. The fastest Indian bowler among both spinners and pacers to do so is Ravichandran Ashwin in just 216 innings, followed by Kapil (220), Shami (224) and Kumble (226).
The deadly Indian pacer still has a long way to go to catch up with the top three wicket-takers for India in international cricket Anil Kumble (953 wickets), Ravichandran Ashwin (744 wickets), and Harbhajan Singh (707 wickets).
Rishab Pant
With his sixth Test century in the second innings of the match, which came off 124 balls and included 12 fours and four sixes, Rishab Pant, making a comeback to red ball cricket after nearly two years layoff due to a horrific road accident, equalled MS Dhoni’s record for the most centuries by an Indian wicketkeeper-batsman in Test cricket.
International wicketkeeper-batsmen with most centuries in Tests:
Adam Gilchrist (AUS) – 17
Andy Flower (ZIM) – 12
Les Ames (ENG) – 8
AB De Villiers (SA) – 7
MJ Prior (ENG) – 7
Kumar Sangakkara (SL) – 7
BJ Watling (ENG) – 7
Quinton de Kock (SA) – 6
MS Dhoni (IND) – 6
Kamran Akmal (PAK) – 6
Mushfiqur Rahim (BAN) – 6
AJ Stewart (ENG) – 6
Rishabh Pant (IND) – 6
Shubman Gill
On Day 3 of the Test match, Gill became only the second Indian No.3 batsman after former captain and head coach Rahul Dravid to score a Test century at the MA Chidambaram stadium, Chennai. In 35 Tests played at the venue, Dravid was India’s first No.3 batsman to score a century before Gill joined him on Saturday.
Gill made amends for his duck in the first innings with a masterly fifth Test century and the second against Bangladesh.
