Pujara, Gill cement India's strong position

Hundreds from Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara put India in a commanding position in the first Test at Chattogram. The duo made sure that India extended the advantage of having gained a 254-run first innings lead after Kuldeep Yadav picked up a five-wicket haul.

With the ball, Bangladesh were stifled by the absence of Ebadot Hossain, who did not take the field. Incidentally, he had not bowled in the first innings as well after taking the wicket of Shreyas Iyer early on the second day. He had however come out to bat, but without his availability, and with Shakib Al Hasan too not bowling, Bangladesh's attack wore a one-dimensional look, with Taijul Islam sharing the new ball with Khaled Ahmed.

The left-arm spinner came close to picking up Shubman Gill, who was given out LBW, but corrected on review as the ball was going down the legside. On a pitch that was still keeping low and offering assistance to the spinners, India's openers could not score at a quick pace but managed to grind it out initially. In the second session, however, Gill took charge hitting four boundaries in the first four overs after Lunch.

Bangladesh plugged on valiantly with pacer Khaled Ahmed opting for the short ball ploy that discomforted Rahul with awkward bounce and eventually had him pulling down to fine leg. Against Gill, each of the spinners had a review going against them. The third of which only added fuel to the fire with part-timer Yasir Ali losing so because DRS was down.

These did not bog down the opener, however, as he used his feet and the sweep shot to good effect to bring up his fifth Test fifty and put on a fifty-plus stand with Pujara as well. Post the tea interval, both batters switched up gears. Gill also hit three sixes as he raced away to a ton, his first ever in Test cricket, getting there with a lofted boundary to long on. He fell soon after, trying to slog Mehidy Hasan and holing out to deep midwicket.

However, India's assault did not abate. Pujara now took the role of aggressor, unafraid to use his feet and loft the spinners. He made his intentions clear in same over that Gill got out, lofting Mehidy for boundary to get his second fifty off the match. He proceeded to keep up the ante and got his second fifty off just 42 balls, ending a century drought that had gone on for over three years. His first hundred in 52 innings, and 19th overall helped set a target of 512, and only added to Bangladesh's woes, which were compounded by a below-par performance with the bat in the first innings.

They managed to add 17 runs to their overnight score before they were bowled out, less than an hour into the third day's play. Kuldeep Yadav bagged his third Test five-wicket haul when he had Ebadot Hossain caught down the legside, ending a 42-run stand for the ninth wicket.

Mehidy continued to farm the strike but could add only six more with the final wicket before he was out stumped off Axar Patel, giving India a big lead of 254 runs. In the second innings, they got off to a better start with the openers remaining unscathed until stumps.

Brief scores: India 404 (Cheteshwar Pujara 90, Shreyas Iyer 86, R Ashwin 58; Taijul Islam 4-133, Mehidy Hasan Miraz 4-113) and 258/2 decl (Shubman Gill 110, *) lead Bangladesh 150 (Mushfiqur Rahim 28; Kuldeep Yadav 5-40, Mohammad Siraj 3-20) and 42/0 by 471 runs

Source: Cricbuzz