Chennai: Pacer Hasan Mahmud tore through the Indian top order with a three-wicket haul as Bangladesh reduced the hosts to 88 for three at lunch on the opening day of the first Test of the two-match series here on Thursday.
Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (37) and Rishabh Pant (33) were at the crease when lunch was taken, and they have so far added 54 runs for the fourth wicket, steering India to much calmer shores.
Once Bangladesh elected to bowl on a muggy Chennai morning, focus was entirely on express quick Nahid Rana, but it was the more honest Mahmud (3/14) who rattled India with a clinical spell.
Rohit Sharma (6), who was saved by DRS when he was on 1, was the first to depart. The Indian skipper had little choice other than playing a wobble seam delivery that came at him on a tight angle as he edged to Najmul Hasan Shanto at second slip.
Shubman Gill (0) lasted just eight balls but he would count himself unlucky, feathering Mahumd’s down the leg side delivery to wicketkeeper Litton Das.
Virat Kohli (6) walked into the Chepauk amid loud cheer from the crowd and looked confident. But an old failing resurfaced to haunt him.
Mahmud pitched one just short of the length outside the off-stump, and the drive was not there. But the star batter chose to play an expansive drive with the ball nestling in Litton’s gloves after taking a healthy edge off Kohli’s bat.
India were 34 for three inside the first 10 overs as a veil of silence covered the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
Gradually, a sizable crowd regained the voice as Jaiswal and Pant, who came ahead of KL Rahul, played counterattacking knocks to drag India back into the contest.
They were a bit edgy to begin with as there were a few play-and-misses, edges, couple of wrong calls for singles between them, but the left-handers soon overcame it to play a few dazzling shots.
Jaiswal was all classic correctness as he drove, flicked and swept pacer Taskin Ahmed and off-spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz for boundaries to keep the board ticking.
Pant, at the other end, used his timing and power to good effect to peel boundaries off Rana, and a thundering square cut off the pacer was a treat to watch.
The lone moment of worry during his stay was an edge off Taskin that Shadman Islam failed to grab at first slip.
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