'I see bowlers being shell shocked' - Sanjay Manjrekar dissects 'gifted' R Ashwin's Chennai ton

As the Indian top-order of Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, and Virat Kohli collapsed, India was struggling on Day 1 of the first Test against Bangladesh on September 19. Though Yashasvi Jaiswal notched up a gritty 56 off 118 balls, the respite came from the local boy Ravichandran Ashwin, who made Bangladeshi bowlers toil hard after they swam three-fourths of the ocean. 

Ashwin partnered with Ravindra Jadeja to stitch an unbeaten 195-run stand for the seventh wicket on Day 1, completing his sixth Test ton. His unbeaten 102 came with the utmost elegance, striking around 90. Former cricketer, Sanjay Manjrekar impressed by the veteran’s pyrotechnic at display, termed him as "flag bearer of this generation". 

"The most important thing is Ashwin's gift as a batter. I see the bowlers being shell shocked because they are bowling so well - good lengths, right areas. Then, Ashwin comes in and they do the same thing and that ball gets punished for four. Not once, but three, four, five times. That puts them off,” said Manjrekar speaking to ESPNcricinfo.

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"He's got such beautiful hands, plays the ball late. One of the very few flag-bearers of this generation, who plays a lot on the back foot and plays the ball late. All those things combined got us to witness a wonderful innings," he added.  

Jadeja has worked out his approach: Sanjay Manjrekar 

Jadeja’s unbeaten 86-run knock was overshadowed by the local boy's blitzkrieg. Manjrekar had once termed the Saurashtra batter a "bits and pieces cricketer" and the comments were much talked-about and resulted in Jadeja’s tongue-in-cheek posts. However, Manjrekar labelled the southpaw to have "mastered his own approach".

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"He's been amazingly consistent with the bat over the last few years. Not just in India, he got a hundred in England as well. When you see him bat now, it seems like he has actually mastered his own approach to batting. He is happy to grind without even looking like he is grinding. This is a batter who has worked out his approach. He knows his batting well,” Manjrekar concluded.