DAY ONE:
SCORE: India: 239-0 (56), Shikhar Dhawan 150* (158) and Murali Vijay 87* (178)
THE GAME:
A brilliant counterattacking comeback ton from Shikhar Dhawan was enough to land a solid blow to Bangladesh’s hopes on the first day of the one off test. Dhawan announced his comeback into the test side in grand style as he kept the helpless Bangladesh bowlers at bay throughout and dominated from the word go. Dhawan was efficiently assisted by the stylish M. Vijay. Vijay, unlike Dhawan was calm and composed throughout and was happy in playing second fiddle to the Delhi lad.
Earlier in the day, Indian skipper Virat Kohli had no hesistation in batting first on a docile and lifeless wicket in Fatullah. The pitch was utterly dull and it had absolutely nothing for the bowlers. Neither did the ball carry or seam; nor did it assist the spinners. It is the consequence of playing on such lifeless wickets that the batsmen are thriving and making life incredibly hard for the bowlers.
At the toss, a few eyebrows were raised in both the camps. For the hosts, Rubel Hossain’s exclusion was a sheer blunder. The hosts played with only one full fledged seamer in the form of Mohammad Shahid. Soumya Sarkar, a part timer was made to share the new ball with Shahid. On such a dead wicket, only bowlers who can bang it in excess of 140 km/hr can make an impression. But the Bangladeshis were happy in just playing a medium pacer.
The Indians on the other hand played with five bowlers, a strategy which Kohli is a fan of. It was a hard call as Pujara was dropped and Rohit Sharma was chosen. The three seamers were Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron and Ishant Sharma.
In the second over, there was a very close call off Sarkar, who caught Vijay off guard. However, Vijay was extremely lucky to survive as umpire Dharmasena was least interested. In the very next over, Dhawan played with hard hands and was lucky as the ball didn’t carry to the fielder. In the sixth over, Dhawan finally left a positive impression as he hit two fine boundaries.
The Delhi opener got to his half century within the 14th over and till then he had contributed for 54 runs out of the total of 69.
The Indians were helped by many factors. Firstly, the selection blunder was enough to force Bangladesh on the backfoot. Secondly, the pitch was a gold mine for the batsmen and the openers made it evident. Then Rahim’s ultra defensive captaincy further tilted the game in India’s favour.
While piling up the runs, Dhawan and Vijay became only the sixth Indian opening pair to amass 1000+ runs together. Dhawan was all set to bring up his ton in the first session, before rain played spoilsport. In the 24th over, the skies opened up and that consumed the entire afternoon session. On the second last ball before the rain delay, Dhawan was dropped on the bowling of Taijul Islam.
The play finally resumed at 3:30 PM local time. The Indian openers though didn’t change their approach and were aggressive. Soon Dhawan got to his century with a boundary. It must be noted that for a few overs, Dhawan was troubled in the 90’s. The flamboyant opener was delighted to get to his third test ton. Vijay on the other hand was calm on 63*. However, soon Vijay too changed gears and hit a glorious six of Jubair Hossain.
The Indian batsmen toiled with the bowlers and on the last ball of the day, Dhawan got to his 150. Vijay remained not out on 89. The Indians have made a solid start and in all probability will plan to not bat again.