India were comfortably poised on 462 for six when play was called off on the third day of the only Test against Bangladesh after heavy showers had forced players off the field just a little before the scheduled Tea break. Ajinkya Rahane’s 98 off 103 balls inspite of intermittent rain earlier in the day kept India on course after the openers got India off to a solid start. The last session of the day was washed off. When stumps were called Ravichandran Ashwin was batting on two and Harbhajan Singh on seven.
While the first session was unaffected by rain, the second session got off to a delayed start due to heavy showers. 4.1 overs into the post-lunch session, rain made its presence felt briefly again. But, until then, Vijay had reached his 150 with a single towards short mid-wicket region.
However, when play resumed after the brief interruption, the opener was trapped lbw by Shakib Al Hasan later in the over. Ajinkya Rahane who had formed an alliance with Vijay after the fall of three quick wickets continued to strike the ball with flamboyance as the innings progressed. Displaying intent of increasing the run-rate to pile on quick runs, the Indian batsmen went after the bowling.
While they endevoured to do so, Wriddhiman Saha who had replaced Vijay in the middle was castled by Jubair Hossain for six. Ravichandran Ashwin then joined Rahane in the middle to carry the innings forward. The middle-order bat who had looked in sublime touch smacked two cracking boundaries off Shakib in the next over before falling to the spinner two short of a century.
At 453 for six, Harbhajan Singh then came out to bat and helped add nine runs to the total when rain caused yet another interruption in the day’s play.
Earlier, with India in a commanding position on 239, Shikhar Dhawan resumed on a solid 150 while Murali Vijay who was batting on 89 at stumps on the first day went on to post his century with a boundary early in the day.
However, the flourishing stand was halted by Shakib for 283. The former Bangladesh captain, sent the left-handed opener back for 173. Dhawan chipped the ball back to the spinner giving the home team their first breakthrough of the day.
Shakib once again gave his team a much-needed breakthrough followed up with the wicket of Rohit Sharma in the next. Coming in to bat at No 3, the batsman had wasted no balls in getting off the mark, but an over later lost his off-stump to the bowler while looking to drive through the covers.
With the ball turning and encouraged by the breakthroughs the Bangladesh bowlers came at the India batsmen with gusto. Hossain accounted for the prized wicket of Virat Kohli with a googly that brushed the inside edge of the bat and rolled on to the stumps to leave India 310 for three.
While the visitors’ lost wickets in a cluster, Vijay continued to anchor the innings and found an able ally in Rahane to stabilise the innings. The No. 5 batsman soon found his bearings and stitched a solid partnership with the opener. Running hard between the wickets the pair maintained the run-rate and entertained with some graceful boundaries as they steered the innings forward. Gaining momentum, while Rahane approached his half-century, the opener too had his sight set on the 150-run mark.
As the session inched towards lunch Shakib was back into the attack and posed questions to Vijay who was batting on 144. At the other end, Rahane went past his fifty with a boundary edged past the stumps down the leg side but followed it up with a crisp boundary straight down the ground. With an unbroken 88-run stand the pair saw the session through.
End of Day 1: Ind 1st inn 239/0 in 56 overs (S Dhawan 150*, M Vijay 89*)
End of Day 2: No play due to rain
End of Day 3: Ind 1st inn 462/6 in 103.3 overs (M Vijay 150, A Rahane 98, S Al Hasan 4/105)
