Ravichandran Ashwin leaves Gautam Gambhir stunned with his brilliant cut shot

Veteran Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin wouldn’t have expected that he would come out to bat in the second session of Day 1 of the ongoing first Test against the Bangladesh National Cricket Team. The game between the two teams kickstarted on Thursday (19th September) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

India National Cricket Team, who has been asked to bat first, are in big trouble in the ongoing game. The batting has flopped, but not to take the credit away from Bangladesh bowlers, the visitors have been spot-on with their lines and lengths. Fast bowlers, in particular Hasan Mahmud, have troubled the Indian batters big time.

India lost Rohit Sharma (6), Virat Kohli (6) and Shubman Gill early. After that, it was Yashasvi Jaiswal (56) and Rishabh Pant (39) who steadied the innings and made sure that the team didn’t lose any more wickets in the first session of the Day 1 of the ongoing game against Bangladesh.

However in the second session, both the set batters lost their wickets along with KL Rahul (16). This made Ravichandran Ashwin walk out to the crease. The off-spinner came out to bat in the 43rd over on home ground and received huge applause.

Ravichandran Ashwin, ever since he arrived at the crease, has played the positive brand of cricket. The veteran Indian off-spinner has played quite a few shots in his short innings so far, hitting a flurry of boundaries and making sure the team gets quick runs under their belt.

Ravichandran Ashwin looked in great touch, and so far, he hasn’t made a single mistake. The batter has played some gorgeous strokes and even made head coach Gautam Gambhir, who is sitting in the dugout, go gaga about the boundaries that he hit.

Off then all boundaries that Ravichandran Ashwin has hit, the cut shot that he played against Nahid Rana impressed head coach Gautam Gambhir. On the last ball of the 44th over, the lanky pacer bowled a 144.2kph, short ball and provided width.

The India batter seized an opportunity to score runs as he played a magnificent cut to the sweeper cover the fence and even made commentators say ‘shot of the day’. But what caught the attention of many was the reaction of Gautam Gambhir, who was delighted with it.

Here’s the video:

You can’t call them an underdog anymore – Ravichandran Ashwin on Bangladesh

Ahead of the start of the game, Ravichandran Ashwin talked about the challenge against Bangladesh, saying that the opposition has made a rise and they cannot be taken as underdogs. He also expressed his delight to face the Najmul Hossain Shanto-led side. He stated:

“Certainly, they (Bangladesh) have put their hand up and said, ‘Look, we are a team on the rise, and we are playing wonderful cricket.’ I watched some of those clips (vs Pakistan); it wasn’t live in India, but it truly an exceptional result for the Bangladeshi cricket team.

“I am one of those guys who loves to see the underdog come out and perform. You can’t call them an underdog anymore, they have played some wonderful cricket. They challenged us in Bangladesh when we were there the last time. Really looking forward to a good series.” He concluded.