BAN vs IND | Twitter reacts as Cheteshwar Pujara and Shreyas Iyer steer India to safety after early collapse on Day 1

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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India managed to stave off early scares of a low score on Day 1, courtesy of half-centuries from Shreyas Iyer and Cheteshwar Pujara on a tricky track. The Men in Blue were well-placed to end the day in a strong position but a wicket on the day's last ball meant that play ended at an even keel.

India had an up-and-down return to Test cricket after a six-month break when they took on Bangladesh at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on Wednesday as the game remained evenly balanced at stumps on Day 1. With the pitch greatly assisting spinners, the visitors did well to post a total of 278/6 and will be hopeful of getting past 350 with Shreyas Iyer still at the crease even as the Tigers would aim to clean the tail as soon as possible on day two.

Openers KL Rahul and Shubman Gill, replacing the injured Rohit Sharma, gave India a solid start early on as the Men in Blue coasted to 41/0. However, the duo fell in quick succession before Virat Kohli followed suit for 1(4), bringing the score to a despairing 48/3. The course of events led the side to promote Rishabh Pant up the order over Shreyas Iyer, presumably to neutralize the threat of left-arm spinner Taijul Islam who had dismissed both Gill and Kohli, and the wicket-keeper batter delivered in his typical style. He took the attack to the opposition, racing away to 46(45) before being undone by a skidding delivery from Mehidy Hasan Miraz.

Thereon, the duo of Cheteshwar Pujara and Iyer took control, taking the team from 112/4 to 261 with a 149-run partnership. The former narrowly missed out on a century at 90, with the veteran's wicket in the 85th arguably being the bowling highlight of the day. Islam drew him forward to defend with a good-length ball drifting inwards which then spun away sharply and crashed into the off-stump.

Axar Patel, assigned the responsibility of getting through the day, was going along well at 14 and even survived a bat-pad courtesy of Bangladesh failing to review the call but eventually fell on the last huddle. Facing Mehidy, Axar was deceived by the angle as the ball went past his inside edge to rattle into the back pad. The all-rounder asked for a review, which showed the ball was only just kissing the leg-stump in what was an umpire's call, thus resigning Axar Patel to a dismissal on the last ball of Day 1.

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He will be there

The wait continues

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