After Axar Patel and Shreyas Iyer’s successive dismissals on Day 2 of the opening Test match between India and Bangladesh at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram, the tourists were in desperate need for some resilience from the lower order and R Ashwin delivered it for India with some able assistance from an unlikely batter in Kuldeep Yadav. Ashwin negated the spin threat of Mehidy Hasan and Taijul Islam to notch up his 13th half-century score as India finished with 404 runs in the 1st innings. Following the crucial knock, Iceland Cricket shared a hard-hitting stat on Ashwin, comparing him with cricket legends like Richard Hadlee and Shane Warne, with immediately went viral all over social media.
Ashwin fought bravely against the Bangladesh attack putting on a score of 58 runs off 113 runs as he struck his 13th half-century score on the second morning of the Test. The knock put Ashwin closer to 3000 runs as he now stands just 11 runs short of the milestone. On the other hand, he also completed 1700 runs in the format as a No.8 batter. Only Kapil Dev has ever reached the feat for India at that position while former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori stands atop in the list with an overall tally of 2227.
Following the knock, Iceland Cricket took to Twitter to opine that despite the achievements of Ashwin in Tests, he is rarely regarded as one of the greatest all-rounders in the format. The Twitter handle further revealed thar Ashwin’s Test batting average (27.12) is almost the same as that of New Zealand great Hadlee (27.2). Well, Ashwin is now 136 runs behind Hadlee’s tally as well. Iceland Cricket further added that Ashwin’s bowling average (24.20) is less than that of late great Warne (25.40).
“When people compile lists of the greatest Test all-rounders, Ravi Ashwin’s name is rarely present. But he has nearly 3,000 runs at almost the same average as Hadlee, with five centuries. Not to mention nearly 450 wickets at a lower average than Warne,” the tweet read.
India later folded Bangladesh for just 150 runs, thereby taking a lead of 254 runs in the first innings. India opted against enforcing a follow-on and further took the lead to 290 runs at Lunch on Day 3.