India vs West Indies: ‘This knock could be series defining,’ says centurion Ravichandran Ashwin

With all the frontline batsmen back in the hut, it was once again left to Ashwin to do the rescue work, and once again he did not disappoint.

After winning the first Test against West Indies convincingly and dominating the second one for major part, Team India went into the third Test high on confidence. However, carrying the last day momentum from the second Test to the third one, West Indies started well by restricting India for 5 for 126 at one stage. With all the frontline batsmen back in the hut, it was once again left to Ravichandran Ashwin to do the rescue work, and once again he did not disappoint. ALSO READ: Ravichandran Ashwin scripts history; becomes the first Indian cricketer to have achieved this feat.

Ashwin found an able ally in wicket-keeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha and put up a record partnership to bail India out from the troubled waters. In the process, both the batsman reached to their hundreds. While Saha brought in his maiden Test ton, Ashwin hit his fourth, and incidentally all have come against West Indies. The tall off-spinner defined his knock as special while talking to the reporters at the end of day’s play.

“When we got together we were in quite a bit of trouble and it was one of those wickets where you are not in any time. There was a good chance that you might be nicked off or you might get a good ball any time. It was very difficult to score,” Ashwin said. The star all-rounder also applauded the opposition, saying, “The thing is that they did get some momentum, I believe, from the Jamaica Test, but that’s how Test cricket is like. We didn’t come over here thinking or expecting to roll them over. They’re also a Test team, and in their home conditions, it’s going to be hard and we expected it.” ALSO READ: Ravichandran Ashwin, Wriddhiman Saha get a pat on the back from Twitterati for their rescue act.

Ashwin then went on to add his knock as potentially series-defining one, saying, “In hindsight, later on this could very well be a series-defining knock because we were in some trouble yesterday and there was every chance that we could be skittled out. I thought it needed a bit of application. It was not like making a hundred back home or anywhere in the world. I’m sure about that because it was definitely not a wicket where you could just plonk your front foot and play through the line. It was a hard-fought day yesterday and it was no different today. We just hope we can capitalise on the rear guard action later tomorrow,” he said.

Day three of the Test was washed out with West Indies placed at 1 for 107.