I always value myself as an allrounder – Ashwin

India offspinner R Ashwin, who batted at No. 6 for the first time in his Test career, has said that he was surprised by the promotion in Antigua, where he made his third Test century and his first away from home.

“Batting at No. 6 was a complete surprise for me,” Ashwin told bcci.tv. “Virat [Kohli] told me in the morning of the game that I would be batting at six, and I really liked what he said. He said: ‘We trust you, and we want you to bat at six and see how it goes’. I wanted to give something back to the team, and show that I was good batting at No.6.”

Having arrived late on the first day at 236 for 4, Ashwin saw out a tricky phase with Kohli and took India to 302 for 4 at stumps.

Ashwin then unfurled his array of strokes on the second day, the highlight being a straight back-foot punch off West Indies captain Jason Holder. But when Shannon Gabriel, West Indies’ best bowler in the game, posed questions outside off stump with away movement or the lack of it, Ashwin was prepared to grind him down. He pressed on to bring up a century off 237 balls with a whipped four, before holing out for 113 off 253 balls.

“I wanted to lend some solidity,” Ashwin said. “It was quite a tiring innings because I played about 250 balls, and after that to come out and exhibit how I could bowl after a tired innings. I was very pleased with that.”

Given Kohli’s penchant for playing with five bowlers, there was pressure on Ashwin and the lower order to contribute more with …

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