Former Bangladeshi opener and captain Tamim Iqbal has reserved big praise for star Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who played a big role in helping India win the first Test against Bangladesh by 280 runs in Chennai on Sunday. In the match played at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Ashwin top-scored for India in the first innings by scoring his sixth Test century (113 runs from 133 balls), and in the second innings he accounted for the dismissal of six Bangladeshi batters for 88 runs.
Speaking on Jio Cinema’s post-match show after India’s big win, Tamim praised Player of the Match Ashwin and said his contribution to the Indian team is as big as that of batting superstar Virat Kohli and captain Rohit Sharma.
“That was brilliant what he did; he was batting like a proper batter. I come from a different country. What I always hear is Virat Kohlis and Rohit Sharmas, but Ravichandran Ashwin is equally important in my eyes. We only talk about when they do well; when they get the hundreds, they get five six wickets. But their contribution to this Indian team is immense. It’s as big as Rohit as big as Virat Kohli,” Tamim said.
Ashwin, who sits at No. 1 position in the ICC Test bowler’s ranking, came out to bat when India was struggling at 144 for 6 in the first innings, and he added 199 runs for the seventh wicket with Ravindra Jadeja to pull India out of danger and post a total of 376 runs.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma was also impressed with Ashwin’s super show in the first Test, and during the post-match presentation ceremony, he hailed the second-leading wicket-taker for India in Test cricket by saying that he is always there to contribute.
“Every time we look up to him, he’s always there for us, whether with the bat or ball. I don’t know if I speak here; it’ll be enough of what he does for this team. Every time we see him come out and do the job, it’s always so brilliant. He’s never out of the game. The last competitive cricket he played was IPL, and then he had some fun playing TNPL. We watched him bat up the order, and that’s what helped him as well to bat the way he did,” Rohit said.
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