Taijul, Khaled land early blows before Rishabh leads brief recovery
Never judge a pitch by its grass cover. If ever there was a surface about which this could be said, it is the one in Chattogram for the first Test between Bangladesh and India. Still, the hosts had India 48 for 3 at one stage. By lunch, though, Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant took them to a more respectable 85 for 3.
After India opted to bat, Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan hoped the grass cover would help his seamers pick up early wickets. But the pitch offered little assistance to the fast bowlers, forcing Shakib to bring himself on as early as the sixth over.
From there on, Bangladesh never had their seamers, Ebadot Hossain and Khaled Ahmed, operating in tandem for the rest of the session. The duo didn't help their cause too by hardly bowling anything full. Some of the balls did keep low but they were all well outside off. Shakib tried playing around with the field, deploying a leg slip, a catching short midwicket, and a catching cover at various times but to no avail.
It was Taijul Islam who eventually broke through. At the stroke of the drinks break, Shubman Gill tried to lap-sweep a full delivery but the ball just dropped at him, inducing a top edge. Yasir Ali, anticipating the shot, came around from first slip and gobbled it up.
KL Rahul fell soon after, chopping Khaled on to his stumps. In the next over, Virat Kohli played back to a length ball from Taijul that spun past his outside edge and trapped him lbw. That meant India, who looked in full control at 41 for no loss, were all of sudden in a spot of bother.
Pujara and Pant saw out the rest of the session, batting in their own contrasting styles. Pant even skipped down the pitch to launch Taijul over wide long-on for a six. At lunch, he was batting on 29 off 26, and Pujara on 12 off 32.
In the morning, Bangladesh handed a debut to Zakir Hasan, who was the highest run-getter in the recently concluded National Cricket League, Bangladesh's premier first-class tournament. Earlier this month in Cox's Bazar, he had struck 173 to help Bangladesh draw the first four-day game against India A.
Source: ESPNcricinfo
