TIL Desk Sports/ Star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin heaped praise on England opener Keaton Jennings for notching up a century on debut on the opening day of the fourth cricket Test against India here on Thursday. Jennings scored 112 runs to propel the visitors to a strong position by tea before India fought back to restrict England to 288/5 to end the first day’s action on an even keel at the Wankhede Stadium.
Jennings thus became the eighth English opener and the 69th batsman in the history of Test cricket to hit a century on debut. The South Africa-born left-hander was dropped when he was yet to open his account in his debut Test and then capitalised on the “life” given to him. “Obviously, a debut century is very special. I just had a weird feeling when he was dropped early on in his innings.
He has had a great season and just continued from where he left off I guess. He has got a very tight defence and looks like a very good player,” Ashwin told reporters at the end of the day’s play. Excellent batting by Jennings, Moen Ali and Alastair Cook helped the visitors to a strong position at 196/2 by tea but the Indians took three wickets in the final session to stage a strong fightback. Ashwin, who spearheaded the Indian comeback by claiming the wickets of Jennings and Moen Ali, opined that good bowling in the post lunch session laid the foundation for that successful spell.
