Shikhar Dhawan (150*) and Murali Vijay (89*) took India to stumps with an unbroken 239-run opening stand on a rain affected first day of the one-off Test in Bangladesh. With his third Test century, the left-handed batsman shaped India’s first innings at the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium in Fatullah after Test captain Virat Kohli elected to bat under overcast conditions in Bangladesh.
Dominating the proceedings he had taken India past the three-figure mark with a composed Vijay before rain forced a slightly early end to the first session. The relentless showers continued through the afternoon washing out the second session but with the rain letting up, play could eventually resume later for the final session of the day.
While rain had let up, Vijay and Dhawan had not. Coming out to the middle after an extended break of about four hours they steered the Indian innings forward from where they had left. Batting with ease, the openers kept India in command as they inched towards their individual milestones in the innings.
The bowlers were at sea as the opening pair found the gaps and picked singles with ease and dealt in boundaries as they consolidated and controlled the innings. Vijay edged Mohammad Shahid through the slip cordon to reach his fifty with a boundary while his partner closed in on the three-figure mark. Dhawan, who had been dealing in boundaries brought up his century with a four to square-leg.
As the openers tightened their hold on the innings, Vijay lofted Jubair Hossain over long-on for the first six of the innings.
Scoring at an unhurried pace, the Indian batsmen negotiated the Bangladesh spinners and worked to take the team through to stumps without any hiccups. Although boundaries were less frequent than before the batsmen maintained a steady flow of runs as they stayed their crease and the hosts struggled to create a breakthrough. Mushfiqur Rahim used as many as seven bowling options as he worked to end the flourishing opening stand.
And after the left-hand batsman reached the 150-run mark, the umpires called it a day due to bad light.
Earlier, although the pace bowling opening pair of Shahid and Soumya Sarkar kept the Indian batsmen tied down in the first few overs, Dhawan led the charge after taking the measure of the conditions. He drove Sarkar to the fence and picked a boundary off Shahid in the next to set the ball rolling. He then followed up with back-to-back boundaries off Shuvagata Hom, who was introduced in the form of spin in the sixth over and continued to maintain a steady flow of runs.
While Vijay held-up one end, Dhawan ensured the visitors a healthy run-rate with a steady flow of boundaries even as they added the singles and twos to the scorecard.
Dhawan raced towards his half-century and was one short of the mark when his partner collected his first boundary with a firm hit in front of mid-wicket off Shakib Al Hasan to reach nine. The stylish left-hand batsman unscrupulously eased past the fifty-run mark off just 47 deliveries with a crisp boundary off Hom in the following over as he continued to dominate the attack. Vijay then finished the over with a boundary to take India to 69 without loss as the Umpires called the first drinks break of the game.
The right-hand opener too joined in plundering runs off Bangladesh in the latter half of the session and impressed with elegant drives as the pair took India to the three-figure mark with ease. Dhawan whacked Jubair Hossain to the square-leg boundary to bring up India’s hundred as rain started making its presence felt.
However, in the next over, Dhawan was let off on 73 at short mid-wicket after slamming Taijul Islam. A ball later, with rain coming down heavily forcing the players off the field the first session ended on 107 in 23.3 overs a little before scheduled Lunch break.
While the hosts came into the game with an attack led by two seamers and three spinners in addition to the part-time spin options, India went in with five bowlers – three seamers and two specialist spinners as the visitors’ looked to dominate the only Test.
End of Day 1: Ind 1st inn 239/0 in 56 overs (S Dhawan 150*, M Vijay 89*)
