When Ashwin took the first six Oz wickets to fall on Day 1, there was only one question at the back of everyon... Read More

CHENNAI: When off-spinner R Ashwin took the first six Australian wickets to fall on Day 1, there was only one question at the back of everyone's mind: "Is he going to achieve a perfect 10?"

Ashwin himself admitted that he thought the feat was possible. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about it (Kumble's 'perfect 10')," he said.

"The way things were going, I thought it was a real possibility, but in between I had a finger injury and had to go in and come out. That took the momentum away," he said at the end of the day's play.

Ashwin finished the day with figures of 6/88, with Ravindra Jadeja taking the seventh wicket, but said that the pitch didn't have too many demons in it on the first day.

"To be honest, the pitch looked very dirty after the first five or ten overs and we thought it would spin like a top, but it actually didn't spin at all. There were a few balls which jumped when you tossed it up, but it was slow and will get slower. Hopefully, Mitchell Starc can create a bit of rough."

While many people criticised his performance in the series against England, the offie said, "I don't think I had a bad series against England. I bowled exactly the same way I bowled in that series.

It's just that today the wickets came." The only thing different he did though was make a minor alteration in his body position which he credits to his coach, Sunil Subramaniam.

The 26-year-old was also involved in a potentially game-changing moment. Michael Clarke , who went on to score an unbeaten century, survived a strong appeal for a bat-pad catch at forward-short-leg, when he had only scored 39 runs.

Replays showed that Clarke had indeed got an inside edge, but Ashwin refused to be drawn into the DRS debate. "It was clear to me that he had nicked it, but those things happen. Even if we had the DRS, what would have happened if we didn't have reviews remaining?" he said.

Playing a Test on his home ground was something the bowler had been looking forward to and he believes the feeling is second to none. "I've played plenty of T20 games and a few ODIs here, but that comes nowhere close to Tests.

I've just been smiling for the last couple of days. The ground hasn't looked so beautiful ever and I just had a wonderful day. Even if this is my last Test, it will be the happiest day of my life."