India 88 for 3 (Jaiswal 37, Pant 33, Mahmud 3-14) vs Bangladesh
Hasan Mahmud, the slowest of the three Bangladesh quicks, vindicated their unusual decision to bowl first in India, but they will feel let down by the two other fast bowlers, who were often too short or too full. Yashasvi Jaiswal, early in a promising Test career, and Rishabh Pant, playing his first Test in over 600 days, shored India up from 34 for 3 with an unbroken 54-run stand going into the lunch break.
This was not your usual Test in India. Both sides picked three quicks, and both wanted to bowl first. The pitch was moist and soft underfoot despite record-breaking heat in Chennai in the week leading up to the Test, and the overcast skies in the morning only made this rare event – the last time a visiting side put India in a Test match in India was in 2017 – the most reasonable of calls.
All eyes in such circumstances are on the fast bowlers, and Bangladesh’s started off a little off colour. The batters were hardly involved in the play in the first three overs, but Mahmud found the good length in the fourth over and hardly ever let it go thereafter in his first spell of 7-2-14-3. He nearly had Rohit Sharma lbw with one that seamed in, before the one that left him and took a healthy edge to second slip.
Brought in early, with his No. 3 slot under doubt against the moving ball, Shubman Gill never looked comfortable in his eight-ball stay. Mahmud kept drawing him forward and kept nibbling the ball each way. The end, though, was anti-climactic: a feather down the leg side. Virat Kohli came out full of intent, flicking extravagantly, looking to get right forward, but with high intent comes high risk. When Mahmud got it right, Kohli was nowhere near the ball when he went driving, and edged to the keeper. Mahmud’s figures at the end of this over: 5-2-6-3.
However, Mahmud could not have bowled from both the ends. The other end remained a relief end. The examination of the batters was nearly not as ruthless as Taskin Ahmed and the tearaway quick Nahid Rana kept banging the ball in, not drawing the maximum out of the surface. When they did go full, they went right up, allowing both Jaiswal and Pant to drive.
They didn’t even have to go looking for runs. Deep point, so early in the piece, was kept busy as the bowlers kept giving them width and the length to cut. Fuller balls were punished ruthlessly. Usually the shortening the length is a reaction to the dying of the movement, but this probably wasn’t the case with Taskin and Rana. The introduction of spin proved to be ineffective as Mehidy Hasan bowled three insipid overs for 15 runs.
Usually three wickets in a session after choosing to bowl first is par for the course, but this was an opportunity lost for Bangladesh as only one man bowled well and they still got three wickets. It showed in the control figures: India were defeated nearly once every three balls, but only once every 10 balls in the second half of the session. Two of those seven mis-hits could have been wickets, but Pant escaped on both occasions, top-edging just short of deep square leg and first slip. However, the bowler on both occasions, Taskin, could argue there could have been a better effort from the fielders – Shakib Al Hasan and Shadman Islam respectively.
