Yashasvi Jaiswal then went on to add 62 runs for the fourth wicket with Rishabh Pant (39 off 52), scoring 56 off 118 deliveries before Mahmud struck again to claim his fourth wicket.

Here are the key takeaways from the first day’s play at Chepauk:

Ashwin’s 6th Test ton

Ashwin came into the middle as India were on a brink of collapse losing 6 wickets for 144 with most of the recognized batters back into the hut. From there on, him and Ravindra Jadeja stitched a steady partnership which helped rescue India. The Chennai cricketer, meanwhile, started confidently and got to his ton in just 108 deliveries, smashing 10 fours and 2 sixes along the way.

“Always a special feeling to play in front of the home crowd. This is a ground I I completely love to play cricket in. It’s given me a lot of wonderful memories. It helps that I have come back at the back of a T20 tournament, worked quite a bit on my batting. Of course, I have always been wafting my bat around outside off-stump. Worked on a few things and on a surface like this with a bit of spice, if you’re going after the ball, might as well go after it really hard like Rishabh does,” he said in the post-day chat.

Jadeja holds his end

Without a stable hand like Jadeja on the other end, it would have been difficult for Ashwin to play the way that he did. As Jadeja played anchor, Ashwin went on his merry way, taking risks against pace while his partner dispatched the spinners. The duo would go on to stitch a 195-run partnership off 227 balls to guide India to 339/6 at stumps with Jadeja notching up 86 runs.

India’s top order falters

It was a day to forget for the fancied India top order with Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill all back into the hut with 6,6 and 0 respectively. Pacer Hasan Mahmud took all the three wickets as the recognized India batters, except for Yashasvi Jaiswal, were bamboozled.

Hasan Mahmud steps up

Speaking of Mahmud, he rocked India early when he snapped up Rohit in the 6th over as the Indian skipper was caught behind by Shanto at second slip. Next came Gill who was yet to open his account after seven deliveries, tried to flick a full delivery down the leg side, only to be pouched by Litton Das. Kohli, meanwhile, tried chasing another delivery outside the off stump and perished. Mahmud would chalk up another wicket which was of Rishabh Pant as he finished the day with figures of 4/58.

Yashasvi Jaiswal holds fort

Jaiswal was the only batter in the Indian top order who showed some spark, scoring 56 runs in 118 deliveries, which helped India stabilize after early wickets had fallen. He, along with Pant stitched an important partnership of 62 runs in the 4th wicket which stopped India’s free fall. But the youngster would fall when he went for a drive off Nahid Rana that went straight to Shadman Islam at first slip.