R Ashwin surpasses Anil Kumble, India achieve a first after Chennai Test: Stat Pack

India won the 1st Test match against Bangladesh by 280 runs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Ravichandran Ashwin won the Player of the Match award for his all-round skills.

In Short

• Ravichandran Ashwin wins Player of Match vs Bangladesh
• India register their 179th win, bettering the loss in 178 matches
• Rohit Sharma-led Indian team win by 280 runs

India registered an emphatic win over Bangladesh in the 1st Test match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The Rohit Sharma-led team won by 280 runs against Bangladesh to extend their 12-year-long winning streak in home Test matches. Ravichandran Ashwin was adjudged as the Player of the Match for his all-round performance with the bat as well as the ball. R Ashwin notched up his 6th Test hundred and a six-wicket haul in the same Test to take India to a 1-0 lead in the 2-match series against Bangladesh. This was his consecutive Player of the Match award at his home town Chennai, having won it back-to-back in 2021 and 2024.

India now holds a Test cricket win-loss record of 179-178 in their 92-year history. This is the first time India had more wins than losses. In their 580th Test match, India became the seventh team to achieve this, following Australia (in their inaugural Test), Afghanistan (in their third Test), Pakistan (in their 16th), England (in their 23rd), West Indies (in their 99th), and South Africa (in their 340th). Teams like New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, and Ireland are yet to reach this milestone.

Stat Pack of India vs Bangladesh 1st Test

India’s 280-run victory is the third-largest winning margin for a team in Tests played in Asia after being reduced to 150 or fewer with six wickets down in the first innings. Pakistan defeated India by 341 runs in Karachi in 2006 after being reduced to 39/6. India turned the tables against South Africa in 2015 in Delhi after recovering from 139/6.

R Ashwin has now scored a century and taken five wickets in the same Test four times, placing him second only to Ian Botham (five such instances). Ashwin is also the first player to achieve this feat twice at the same venue, both times in Chennai, the first being against England in 2021. He now has seven five-wicket hauls in 101 Tests, tying with Shane Warne, who took 145 Tests to reach this mark. Only Muttiah Muralidaran has more, with 67 in 133 Tests.

Ashwin also holds the record for the most wickets by an Indian bowler in the fourth innings, with 99 wickets, surpassing Anil Kumble’s 94. He also recorded his seventh five-wicket haul in the fourth innings of a Test, tying him with Warne and Muralidaran, with only Rangana Herath (12) having more.

There have been seven instances of Indian bowlers taking six or more wickets in the second innings after going wicketless in the first. Ashwin has now done this twice, with his previous instance coming in North Sound against the West Indies in 2016. Venkatesh Prasad is the only other Indian bowler to achieve this, doing so against Pakistan in 1999 at the same venue.

Ashwin has won 10 Player of the Match awards in his 101 Tests, tying him for third place among Indian players with Ravindra Jadeja (73 Tests), Virat Kohli (114 Tests), and Anil Kumble (132 Tests). Only Sachin Tendulkar (14 in 200 Tests) and Rahul Dravid (11 in 163 Tests) have won more.

Mushfiqur Rahim has now scored 15,205 runs for Bangladesh across all formats, making him the highest run-scorer for his country. He overtook Tamim Iqbal’s tally of 15,192 runs, with Shakib Al Hasan in third place with 14,721 runs.