Watch cricket video highlights of Bangladesh tour of India 2024. First test between India and Bangladesh. Venue of the match will be Chennai.
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This was not your typical Chennai Test match day. In an Indian Test match, a team elected to bowl first for the first time in seven years. The slowest of the three Bangladeshi quicks, Hasan Mahmud, then validated that decision by taking three wickets in his opening stint. However, surprisingly, three wickets in the opening session appeared like a squandered chance as the other bowlers failed to get the message.
After that, Bangladesh bowled more like a team in less favorable circumstances during the second session and took three wickets to reestablish some sort of ascendency, testing the much-discussed depth of the Indian batting. For you to take the chance of batting last in India, the circumstances must be very favorable. Nevertheless, despite records for heat recorded in Chennai in the week preceding the Test, both teams selected three quicks apiece and desired to bowl first.
But below, the pitch was soft, and the day’s skies were cloudy. Mahmud went to work after three uneventful overs in which hitters scarcely had to play at a ball. Mahmud had just enough nip each way, never straying from the excellent length, starting with his second over. With one that seamed in, Rohit Sharma narrowly avoided a tight call, but he quickly edged one that seamed out. Paradoxically, Rohit’s fast single put him on strike for this delivery.
Shubman Gill never seemed to be at ease throughout his eight-ball stay in the beginning, casting doubt on his No. 3 spot against the shifting ball. Mahmud continued to pull him in and to nibble the ball in all directions. Nevertheless, the conclusion was unimpressive—a feather down the side of the leg. Virat Kohli entered the game with a lot of intent, flipping wildly and trying to advance quickly. However, great intent also comes with great risk. When Mahmud got it right, Kohli edged to the keeper and was nowhere near the ball when he drove.
Mahmud’s final over statistics are 5-2-6-3. Mahmud was unable to bowl from both ends, though. The other end continued to be one of relief. Taskin Ahmed was just as brutal in his scrutiny of the hitters, while Nahid Rana, who was lightning fast, simply continued hitting the ball in rather than extracting as much as possible from the surface. When they did, they went straight up, enabling driving for both Rishabh Pant, who was playing his first Test match in more over 600 days, and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
They added 62 in 16.3 overs, without even trying for fast runs. However, Pant was unable to completely shut the door on Bangladesh just when batting had begun to appear easy. He was late for a much shorter delivery, a ball following a smashing square-cut four. Replays from the side revealed that he made contact behind his body and toe-ended the shot, seemingly without much consideration. Pant was walking off, beating his pad in disdain, so it wasn’t like he needed to see the playback to see what he had done wrong.
Maybe it was the good fortune Mahmud had won during his first sorcery. After lunch, Taskin and Rana bowled considerably better. Tasking continued to hit the nice length without getting paid, consistently beating Jaiswal’s bat. With his increased speed, Rana maintained the pressure and gained the upper hand. Zakir Hasan then delivered a stunning performance at short leg to send back the composed-looking KL Rahul, as is often the case when you start singing.
In the second session, offspinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz also bowled a far better spell, allowing the fast bowlers to switch ends of the wicket. Currently, India was 34 for 3, 96 for 3, and 144 for 6. Huge applause erupted after the final wicket was claimed by R Ashwin of Chennai. With some rasping strokes to start tea on 21 off 19, Ashwin had the audience in stitches in the short time before tea. By tea-time, he and Ravindra Jadeja had put up 32 for the seventh wicket.
One unquestionable fact about India’s current dominant era persisted on a day when many Test cricket traditions in the country were disrupted: teams can match the country’s batting strength but lack the depth to outperform their lower-middle order. R Ashwin, a guy from Chennai who turned 38 two days before the Test, could play another Test in Chennai, who knows. Or, better still, Ravindra Jadeja, the Super King of Chennai? If this is their last, they made a grand entrance on the first day, bringing India back from 144 for 6 with a continuous partnership of 195 runs.
With his sixth Test hundred, Ashwin—one of the two almost identical spin twins—left his fellow Chennaians stunned with rasping strokes that echoed through the stands. Ashwin was the stronger batsman that day. Jadeja, on 86, finished the day undefeated despite being not far behind. Bangladesh may not be strangers to witnessing an Indian seventh wicket crush their hearts, but the manner they reached that position was unmatched in recent memory. In an India-based Test match, a team choose to bowl for the first time in seven years.
India even declared that they would have followed suit. Not because rain prevented the pitch from being prepared; rather, this somewhat green, wet surface was intentionally made during a week in which Chennai saw record-breaking temperatures. The clouds only served to persuade the teams that taking a chance on batting last in India was worthwhile. Then Hasan Mahmud, a wobble-seam line-and-length bowler with seam movement akin to Vernon Philander, destroyed the top order.
With some mediocre bowling around Mahmud, India managed to rally from 34 for 3 for a little while, but Bangladesh quickly responded in the second session, taking three more wickets. Subsequently, Ashwin began to drive, punch, pull, and toil. Jadeja came along. And the game changed completely. Up to that point, Mahmud ruled India. Mahmud was perfect, even when Taskin Ahmed and the fast-moving Nahid Rana threw the new ball away by bowling it too long or too short. Before Rohit Sharma edged one to second slip, he was put to the test extensively with seam movement in both directions.
Shubman Gill hit a leg-side feather, but during his eight-ball stay, he never seemed comfortable. Though there is a significant danger involved, Virat Kohli came out with all of his intentions, which led to an edge away from the body. Then, against some mediocre bowling, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant—playing his first Test in almost 700 days—added 62 for the fourth wicket. This is Jaiswal’s sixth consecutive home test in which he has scored more over fifty. India took the lead before lunchtime, and Pant started to appear threatening.
But after lunch, Pant made a bad decision to take a cut shot, which was fortunate for Mahmud, who persisted. Then came from Taskin and Rana with an even greater session. They gave a tougher challenge by bowling the decent length, and the ball still seamed about, but not as much as in the first session. Eventually, Rana got the better of Jaiswal by nicking him off with additional pace, and KL Rahul, who appeared calm, was caught spectacularly by Zakir Hasan at short leg.
Even though Mehidy Hasan Miraz may have taken a significant wicket in Rahul, the spinners usually were unable to exert any pressure on Bangladeshi skipper Najmul Hasan. He was effectively never in possession of a full attack. In the first session, Mahmud managed to keep them in by himself, and when the other quicks got their act together, they were without spinners to keep them fresh. All of it is simple to say, but it takes work to show this shallowness at 144 for 6.
Huge applause greeted Ashwin as soon as he arrived on the field; in fact, the cheers began as soon as Rahul fell, a moment that was exclusive to hitters before Tendulkar and Kohli. After hitting the speed of Rana for four second balls, he was able to get one first ball. Though not as forceful as this one, Ashwin and Jadeja have performed several acts of rescue. Ashwin batted with considerable style; he stayed on the back foot, met balls at the peak of their bounce, and smashed them past square leg and covers.
Jadeja used a more traditional knock-style of play, opening up only after gaining access and never passing up a chance to score. But Ashwin batted as if he had never left Chepauk. The field needed to stretch out as the ball grew softer and the runs started to come in, while the spinners continued to offer simple boundaries. The two had been staring at each other in amazement at different times. Jadeja appeared to be lucky to have the finest seat in the house when Ashwin picked up the speed of Rana over slips for four.
Ashwin gave Jadeja a flat slog-sweep in exchange for the compliment. Bangladesh has forfeited its right to have adequate catchers in place if the edge did really arrive. Ashwin reached his hundred in just 108 balls six minutes before stumps, erupting in joy from the home fans. To start the 80s, Jadeja celebrated by drilling a boundary back over the bowler in the same over. Just a little reminder that Bangladesh would have to play them again on day two, so it wasn’t finished yet.
