India only have two kinds of days in home Tests – good days and very good days. If day one was good, say two was starting to be very unlike usual days until Mayank Agarwal and vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane decided to bring normality to the Indian innings with a delectable 190-run partnership.
The early morning session went to Bangladesh with Abu Jayed, often a neglected name jn Bangladesh’s ranks, picking up the wickets of Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli against the run of play to alter the tide Bangladesh’s way. Mayank and Pujara had started the day with aplomb for India with the latter looking solid as ever and runs flowing off his bat.
Jayed broke the flow when he landed a full ball outside off-stump to invite a crazy drive from Pujara. The edge was snaffled up at gully as Bangladesh drew first blood. If the entrance of Virat Kohli invited a huge uproar, it quickly died down as Jayed struck again next over to remove the Indian skipper for a duck.
The seamer went wide of the crease to angle one back into Kohli and trap him in front. While the umpires didn’t agree, Bangladesh reviewed the decision at Jayed’s insistence and it proved to be right. It sent the Indore crowd into a stunned silence, but they soon gathered noise as Mayank and Rahane got stuck into a fine partnership.
The two drove Bangladesh bowlers into a frenzy with contrasting approaches and Mayank soon brought up his hundred, his third century-plus score in 12 innings, to push India’s day into the very good horizon. Rahane joined the fun but, though he appeared good, he wasn’t as threatening as Mayank and when a chance came their way, Bangladesh took it.
By then, though, India had raced away with the game. Mayank brought up his double ton in Virender Sehwag-esque fashion with a six. Ravindra Jadeja started finding his groove and by the end of the day, even Umesh Yadav was starting to have fun. At 493/6, India are in pole position to rack up another 600-plus first innings score, this time with none of Rohit, Pujara or Kohli hitting a ton.
Scores: India 493 for 6 (Agarwal 243, Rahane 86, Jadeja 60*, Jayed 4-108) lead by 343 runs.