Updated February 8th, 2021 at 16:38 IST

Ashwin registers his 28th Test fifer, England bundled out for 178 in 2nd innings

Veteran offie Ravichandran Ashwin registered his 28th five-wicket haul in red-ball cricket during the second innings of the ongoing 1st Test at Chepauk

Reported by: Karthik Nair
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Veteran off-spinner added yet another feather in his cap by registering a well-deserved fifer against England on Day 4 of the ongoing first Test at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. 

28th five-wicket haul for Ravichandran Ashwin in Tests

R Ashwin made the ball do the talking on a wicket that is supposedly expected to deteriorate as the contest progresses. He accounted for the likes of openers Rory Burns as well as Dominic Sibley and then ran through England's famed middle-order by dismissing ace all-rounder Ben Stokes and Dom Bess. 'Ash' castled tail-ender Jofra Archer to complete his five-wicket haul.

By the virtue of his great bowling performance in the second innings of the series opener, 'Ash' has now achieved a few milestones in his illustrious Test career. This is his 28th five-wicket haul in the longest format of the game. At the same time, this is also his fourth fifer against England, and, third on his home ground i.e. Chennai.

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The frontline spinner had number 11 batsman James Anderson caught & bowled to register a six-wicket haul. The Tamil Nadu cricketer finished with figures of 6/61 from his 17.3 overs.

Ashwin's senior as well as spin bowling partner Harbhajan Singh also congratulated the engineer-turned-cricketer after his all-important six-wicket haul against Joe Root & Co. Taking to the micro-blogging site, Bhajji congratulated his 2011 World Cup-winning team-mate and urged him to keep up the good work.

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India need 420 runs to win

India who had resumed Day 4 at 257/6 could only manage to add 80 more runs to their overnight score before being bundled out for 337. Meanwhile, England in their second innings really struggled to get going on what seems to be a tough batting surface as only Test skipper Joe Root (40) could offer some resistance as the visitors were bundled out for 178 to set up a target of 420 runs for India in order to go 1-0 up in the four-match series. 

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Published February 8th, 2021 at 16:38 IST