The first-ever day of pink-ball Test on Indian soil was an eventful one as 280 runs were scored and 13 wickets were taken by the bowlers as the home team dominated proceedings at Eden Gardens on Friday. Indian skipper Virat Kohli remained unbeaten on 59 while his deputy Ajinkya Rahane was on 23 as the hosts made 174/3, ahead by 68 runs at stumps.
Earlier Mominul Haque won the toss and opted to bat. However, much like Indore, India’s fast bowling contingent led by Ishant Sharma ran through the opposition and bowled them out for 106 in just 30.3 overs. No Bangladesh batsmen found any sort of comfort against the lethal Indian pace attack as opener Shadman Islam top-scored for them with 29.
Ishant, who bagged his 10th five-wicket haul in Tests, finished with figures of 5 for 22. He was well supported by Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami as they shared the remaining five wickets between them.
Ishant struck first to get Imrul Kayes trapped lbw for 4. Umesh then got the ball to do a bit to send back skipper Mominul Haque, caught superbly by Rohit Sharma at second slip for nought, before bowling Mohammed Mithun two balls later. The most crucial wicket of Mushfiqur Rahim was taken by Shami.as the former Bangladesh skipper failed to open his account in back to back innings. The rest of their batting showed no resistance whatsoever.
India’s wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha had brilliant day behind the stumps as to take a few diving takes including the one-handed grab to dismiss Mahmudullah.
Nevertheless, for the visitors, it was a horrible day overall as a couple of their players were hit by Shami’s bouncers and replaced by concussion subs. First, it was wicketkeeper-batsman Liton Das, who was retired hurt for 24 and replaced by Mehidy Hasan. Later Nayeem Hasan too copped a blow to his helmet and Taijul Islam made the XI.
In reply to Bangladesh’s modest first innings score, India lost the in-form Mayank Agarwal early. Later Rohit Sharma could not make use of the chance he was given on the field by Bangladesh’s Al-Amin Hossain as he too got out for 21 LBW to Ebadot Hossain.
From 43 for 2, Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara held the fort and added 94 runs for the third wicket. Pujara, who hit eight boundaries in his 55 off 105, became Ebadat’s second victim in the 40th over.
Meanwhile, the overrate was pathetic from both the teams as 11 overs were lost in the day, despite extending the play for an extra half an hour.
Brief scores:
India 174/3 (Virat Kohli 59*, Cheteshwar Pujara 55; Ebadat Hossain 2/61) lead Bangladesh 106 all out (Shadman Islam 29; Ishant Sharma 5/22, Umesh Yadav 3/29, Mohammed Shami 2/36) by 68 runs.