India set a huge target of 513 runs against Bangladesh in the first Test at Chattogram on Friday after their opening batsman Shubman Gill scored his maiden century and Cheteshwar Pujara brought up his 19th Test century in the visiting team’s second innings to power them to strong total of 258/2 declared.
Bangladesh, who were bowled out for just 150 in the first innings on Friday morning, were steady in their reply in the second innings with their openers Najmul Hossain Shanto and Zakir Hasan taking them to 42 runs without any loss at stumps as India tried hard for the opening breakthrough.
The third day’s play was once again dominated by the Indian cricket team as their Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav completed his 5-wicket haul to help his side bowl out Bangladesh for just 150, taking a huge lead of 254 runs in the first innings.
Even though India had an opportunity to make Bangladesh follow-on and try to inflict an innings defeat, India captain KL Rahul decided to rest his bowlers for a while as his batsmen got back to the job of dominating the Bangladeshi bowlers.
Kuldeep Yadav returned with impressive numbers of 16-6-40-5 while Mohammed Siraj took to 13-2-20-3 in an impressive spell of bowling, which was well supported by the likes of Akshar Patel and Umesh Yadav who both claimed one wicket each.
For Bangladesh, all-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz finished at 25 while Khaled Ahmed was unbeaten without opening his account as they were bowled out for just 150 – 54 runs behind the follow-on mark – in a poor show of batting.
The Indian openers KL Rahul and Shubman Gill made a steady start in the second innings with the opening partnership lasting as long as the 23rd over, with the two batsmen adding 70 runs to the teams total. It was a smart ploy by the Bangladeshi bowler Khaled Ahmed who came around the wicket to try and bounce out India captain KL Rahul, and he was successful in doing so by having him caught at deep fine leg by Taijul Islam for a 62-ball 23.
The dismissal of KL Rahul brought Cheteshwar Pujara in the middle of the India No 3 resumed from where he had left off in the first innings, wherein he had made a solid 90.
Cheteshwar Pujara added 131 runs for the second wicket with Shubman Gill to consolidate for India, and he was also involved in an unbeaten 75-run partnership with Virat Kohli for the third wicket as he brought up his first century since January 2019 in test cricket.
Both Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara were quick in getting the runs but it was the opening batsman who was a little more aggressive with the bat. The right-handed batsman Shubman Gill struck 10 fours and 3 sixes to make 110 from 152 balls while Cheteshwar Pujara was a busy batsman in the middle on Friday afternoon, hitting 13 boundaries to make 102 not out which came from just 130 balls. At the time of declaration, the former India captain Virat Kohli was unbeaten on 19 having faced 29 balls.
At stumps, Najmul Hossain Shanto was batting on 25 in the company of Zakir Hasan who was on 17 not out as Bangladesh required another 471 runs over next two days if they are to win this contest on a pitch that is set to provide a lot of assistance to Indian spinners Ravichandran Ashwin, Akshar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav.
