India vs. Bangladesh: 1st Test- Day 1- Match Story

The two neighboring nations in south Asia, India and Bangladesh were about to start the one off test series at the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium, Fatullah. The test match was not the one that would catch the attention of cricket fans amongst being played simultaneously during the clash between the Kiwis and English and also the two test series between Australia and West indies.

However, it was a comeback test for discarded veteran Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh who was out of the Indian Test side for almost two years now. All eyes will be on him to see how he grabs the opportunity, coming in from good form in the recently concluded Indian Premier League where he was a part of the victorious Mumbai Indians side.

    

At the toss, it was India’s new full-time test captain calling it right! He elected to bat first on a dry flat track that would help the batsman. Many would have ruled out Bangladesh after this as India rarely fails to put up a good score in the sub-continent after winning the toss and batting first.

And, Day 1 was a replica of that! India are 269/0 after 56 overs on day 1! Here’s a glance at the action:

With Bangladesh going with three specialist spinners including Taijul Islam, Jubair Hossain and Shuvagata Hom, supporting all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan and two pacers in Mohd. Shahid and Soumya Sarkar. The batsmen for Bangladesh were Imrul Kayes, Tamim Iqbal, monimul Haque, captain Mushfiqur Rahim and Litton Das who will keep wickets.

For India, it wa s abig surprise that ace batsman Cheteshwar Pujara not being picked after a fairly good season at the County level. Rohit Sharma got the green signal ahead of him. The rest of the side was same except Bhajji making a comeback! Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay formed the opening pair, while Rohit Sharma, skipper Kohli, Rahane and Saha consisted of the middle order. Rahane was awarded the Ceat Indian Cricketer of the year earlier for his brilliant performances. With Bhajji coming in, India finally have a strong lower order with Ravi Ashwin also there.  Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and ishant Sharma were the quicks selected.

Dhawan an Vijay looked solid at the top.

The Indian openers came out to lead the batting for their side. The message was very clear from the first few initial overs itself- A Big Total! They started off handsomely scoring from the lose deliveries and playing the good ones cautiously! Dhawan was the aggressor as always while Vijay supported him at the other end! Dhawan was on 6 off 13 after 4 overs but after then he did not look back at all!

Traditionlly, the new ball is a source of wickets but the Bangladeshis wished that it got old early so they bring their spinners on! Skipper Rahim was little resistant to bring them on but he had to eventually introduce Hom as the pacers looked juiceless. The lack of pace and help from the surface dented them. Shakib Al Hasan, the left arm off spinner was also introduced next.

Dhawan looked unstopabble.

Soon, Dhawan reached his fifty off just 47 balls, with 10 boundaries to his name. The so called “Tigers” failed to roar! Too many bad balls did not help their cause. Dhawan and Vijay became the 6^th Indian opening pair to bring up 1000 runs as a pair.Was that the turning point of the game? Shuvagat Hom puts down an easy chance to send the well set Dhawan back to the hut who was on 74. Rain Gods interrupted play after that and it looked like and early lunch will be taken.

It looked as if play will be resumed only on the next day but finally the play resumed with 38 overs remaining in the Day’s play. The break was a respite for the tired Bangladeshis. They had a torrid first session.

A well desreved ton!

Milestones started to come as Vijay and Dhawan getting their fifties and hundred respectively. It was the 3^rd test ton for Shikhar, a memorable comeback! The duo registered the highest partnership of 184 for India against Bangladesh. The duo were batting like they were in a “net” session! The batting feast continued before Day 1 ended early due to bad light! But Dhawan maged to get to 150 on the last ball of the Day.

It would be unfair to not give this man his credit. Murali Vijay has helped his partner score freely by rotating strike and easing things off for fim. He is on 86 off178 at the end of the day.

This was the story from Day 1! Do join us tomorrow as India continues to put up a huge total! Until then, Goodbye! Cheers!

All images from CricBuzz.