Mohammed Shami led a sensational bowling performance as India moved into a dominant position on the opening day of the first Test against Bangladesh in Indore on Thursday.
Bangladesh won the toss and decided to bat first but they failed to apply themselves on a good pitch. Openers Imrul Kayes and Shadman Islam fell inside the first 7 overs before R Ashwin and Mohammed Shami triggered a dramatic collapse.
At stumps, Mayank Agarwal (37 not out) and Cheteshwar Pujara (43 not out) had taken India (86 for 1) to within 64 runs of Bangladesh’s first innings 150 all out.
Without Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh’s batting line-up looked fragile. Their batsmen looked like they were not even thinking of a fight against a probing Indian pace battery.
Skipper Mominul Haque (37) and Mushfiqur Rahim (43) were the only two Bangladeshi batsmen to offer any resistance against the clinical hosts.
The pitch did not have any devils.
In fact, Indore had done well to offer a good surface for the Test match but Bangladesh lost the opportunity to exert any kind of pressure on the world’s best Test team in their own backyard.
Bangladesh, who were in a position to get to a substantial first innings score, collapsed from 140 for 5 to 150 all out after Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma combined to complete a team hat-trick.
Shami removed Mushfiqur Rahim and Mehidy Hasan Miraz off successive deliveries before the tea break while Ishant Sharma removed Liton Das off the first ball of the last session.
Taijul Islam was run out when he tried to challenge a rocket throw from Ravindra Jadeja in the deep before Umesh Yadav returned to dismiss Ebadat Hossain to underline a harrowing first day for Bangladesh.
After an abysmal batting performance, Bangladesh found some reason to smile when Abu Jayed dismissed the dangerous Rohit Sharma for 6. However, Cheteshwar Pujara joined forces with Mayank Agarwal as India cruised along.
The second day will be crucial for Bangladesh if they want to fight in this Test match. India are playing 5 specialist batsmen with Ravindra Jadeja slotted in to bat at No.6.
Mominul Haque would be hoping for some early breakhroughs in the morning and if his bowlers fail to deliver, a top-quality Indian batting line-up will make merry in perfect conditions to score runs.
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