Ravichandran Ashwin reached a big milestone by playing his 100th Tests match against England in Dharamsala. He’s only the 14th Indian player to hit this mark. In this special match, he showed his skills by taking four wickets, helping India bowl out England for just 218.
Playing 100 Tests isn’t just about being good at cricket. It also shows how determined and passionate a player is to keep going for so long. With T20 cricket becoming more and more popular, it’s hard to say if we’ll see many more players reaching this milestone in Test cricket.
Before Ashwin, Cheteshwar Pujara was the last Indian player to reach 100 Tests. Even though he hasn’t played Tests since the 2023 World Test Championship final, Pujara has been a key player in India’s Test team for the past ten years, providing stability to the batting lineup.
Cheteshwar Pujara played his 100th Tests for India against Australia in Delhi
Cheteshwar Pujara really liked playing cricket against Australia. So, it was cool that he got to play his 100th match against them in 2023 during the Border Gavaskar Trophy in Delhi.
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Peter Handscomb scored 72 runs for Australia, helping them reach 263 in their first turn at bat. The pitch was getting tricky, making it hard for India’s batters. Pujara got out without scoring any runs, and when the team was at 139/7, it seemed like Australia would take a big lead.
But then, Axar Patel came in and played amazingly, scoring 74 runs from 115 balls. He and Ashwin added 114 runs together, helping India to only trail by one run.
The pressure was on Australia now, especially as the momentum was swinging towards India. Travis Head did make 45 runs quickly, but then Australia’s batting fell apart, which decided the outcome of the game.
Ravindra Jadeja bowled brilliantly, taking 7 wickets for just 42 runs. Despite being 85/2 at one point, Australia could only manage 113 runs. India easily chased down the small target of 115, winning the match by six wickets.
It was a big day in the series as Rohit Sharma and his team kept hold of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with a 2-0 lead. Australia won the next game in Indore, but a draw in Ahmedabad was enough for India to win the series 2-1. Pujara kept scoring lots of runs in domestic cricket, doing his best to stay in contention for a potential return to the national team.