Ravichandran Ashwin was in dominant form on Day 1 of the ongoing first Test match, at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The 38-year-old walked into bat when India were at 144/6, but credit to his unbeaten century, the host posted 339/6 in 80 overs at Stumps.

Ashwin remained unbeaten at 102* runs off 112 balls, packed with 10 fours and two sixes. Meanwhile, Ravindra Jadeja also remained unbeaten with a knock of 86* runs off 117 deliveries.

What did R Ashwin say?

Commenting on Jadeja's role in his knock, Ashwin said, "He (Jadeja) was of real help, there was a point in time where I was really sweating and getting a bit tired, Jaddu noticed it quickly and guided me through that phase. Jaddu has been one of our best batters for our team in the last few years. Him being there, pretty solid and he was also very helpful in terms of telling me that we don't have to convert twos into threes which was really helpful for me."

"(How will the pitch behave tomorrow?) 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.

Ashwin and Jadeja joined Kapil Dev, Syed Kirmani in an illustrious list of Indian batting pairs. Only these two Indian pairs have more than 500 partnership runs for the seventh wicket or below in Tests in home conditions. Ashwin and Jadeja added 100 or more together for the second time in their caeers after the 130-run stand vs Sri Lanka in Mohali.

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