India 86 for 1 (Vijay 45*, Pujara 39*, Taskin 1-17) v Bangladesh
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01:09
When big runs were not enough
Bangladesh enjoyed the perfect start to their first bilateral international in India with fast bowler Taskin Ahmed dismissing KL Rahul in the first over, but they failed to capitalise as they missed chances to dismiss both Cheteshwar Pujara and M Vijay later in the session.
Vijay, returning from a shoulder injury, and Pujara weathered the incisive new-ball bursts from Taskin and Kamrul Islam Rabbi to prop India up to 86 for 1 at lunch.
Mushfiqur Rahim termed the match as “a great moment for Bangladesh cricket” at the toss; they might have later felt they were at an amusement park. They had their early fun with Taskin and Rabbi taking regular trips past the outside edge and producing a series of “oohs” and “aahs”. India’s batsmen, though, looked too skittish for the ride on a Hyderabad surface with a tinge of grass.
Rahul chased a full, wide ball – wider than a set of stumps outside off – from Taskin and dragged it back onto the stumps. Both Taskin and Rabbi found movement in the air and off the surface to cause more anxiety in the Indian camp. They largely alternated between full balls in the corridor and short balls, which forced Vijay and Pujara to throw their gloves in front of their faces. At the end of five overs, India had only four scoring shots. The first boundary arrived in the next over when Pujara uncharacteristically drove away from the body and sent an outside edge flying to his right of gully.
Four balls later, Pujara watched his leading edge drop in front of cover. About three overs later, Rabbi drew an outside edge from Pujara, which dropped well in front of Shakib at first slip. Mushfiqur didn’t go for the dive to his right. Then in the 15th over, Mehedi Hasan Miraz produced an outside edge each from Pujara and Vijay, which flew to the right of Shakib at slip.
Vijay had a reprieve when he and Pujara were at the same end. Kamrul put in the dive at square leg to create that chance, but he lobbed the ball back to Mehedi, the bowler. With the ball travelling slowly to him, Mehedi panicked and failed to collect the throw cleanly.
India enjoyed these breaks in the field but the runs began to come only just before the drinks break when first-change bowler Soumya Sarkar floated a half-volley – the first genuine bad ball of the session – which Pujara whipped between midwicket and mid-on. Vijay then took Kamrul for two pulled fours in the next over, and suddenly India had three boundaries in seven balls. Vijay and Pujara settled in against the old ball, quelling the early anxiety.
Deivarayan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo