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Cricket PlayersPujara, Iyer rally before Bangladesh hit back
Two wickets in the last 10 overs helped Bangladesh recover some ground after Pujara and Iyer’s 149-run stand.
A 149-run partnership between Cheteshwar Pujara and Shreyas Iyer helped India recover from a tricky situation but Bangladesh hit back with two wickets in the last hour, dismissing Pujara and Axar Patel—off the last ball of the day—to peg back the visitors at 278/6 on the opening day of the first Test in Chattogram on Wednesday.
India were reduced to 48/3 but Pujara anchored two partnerships with Rishabh Pant (64 runs for the fourth wicket) and Iyer that steadied the innings. India seemed headed for an uneventful end of the day’s play when Pujara fell 10 short of what would have been his first Test hundred since January 2019. Set up by an in-dipping delivery by slow left-arm bowler Taijul Islam, Pujara played inside the line, only to find the ball turn away and take his off-stump. Patel’s last-ball dismissal then added to the drama as he was trapped leg-before by Mehidy Hasan Miraz in the fading lights of Chattogram.
Iyer is unbeaten on 82 but it wasn’t a chanceless innings by any stretch of imagination. He was dropped on 30 off Shakib Al Hasan. Then on 67, Ebadot Hossain grassed him at deep midwicket off Miraz. When Iyer was on 77, Hossain thought he had bowled him but the bails hadn’t been dislodged. Pujara too had been dropped when he was on 12, underlining a mediocre fielding performance by Bangladesh on a day they kept testing India outside the off-stump.
The morning session was particularly encouraging for Bangladesh as they quickly found the right lines to push India on the backfoot. India weren’t intent on attacking as well, preferring to stay back at times and play the wait-and-watch game. Shubman Gill was the first batter to go, shaping up too early for a sweep against Taijul, giving enough time to Yasir Ali at first slip to go around the wicketkeeper’s back and catch him at leg slip. KL Rahul was done in by lack of bounce but he also chased a wide Khaled Ahmed delivery that took an inside edge and clattered into his stumps. Virat Kohli’s dismissal—trapped plumb by Taijul that he tried in vain to overturn—was the moment of reckoning for Bangladesh but in came Pant with different ideas.
He pulled and swept Taijul for boundaries, stepped out and carted him over wide long-on for six, cut Miraz for a boundary before slog-sweeping him over deep mid-wicket for a huge six. Next ball, Miraz had the last laugh as Pant tried to back away and slash him but got a bottom edge that dropped in on his stumps. That 45-ball 46 though was the perfect counter after Bangladesh held sway for large swathes of the first two sessions.
From there, Bangladesh bowlers started floundering as Iyer and Pujara started building the base of a partnership that looked good to last the day and more. There were reprieves, the start was scratchy and runs weren’t coming at a fair click. Still India staved off Bangladesh to add 89 runs in the second session and reach 174/4 at tea. Iyer looked nervous, playing away from the body to Miraz and edging the ball that flew wide of slip. Pujara had luck on his side but he slowly started to come down the crease to spinners.
A ferocious cut through cover, off Hossain was Pujara’s way of starting the final session in style. Already on 41 by then, Iyer shifted gears to first drive Hossain for a four before pulling Shakib through mid-wicket to raise his fifty. This is where India started taking control of the day as both Iyer and Pujara used their feet well. It prompted Bangladesh to take the new ball as soon as it was available and within the next 10 overs they had got two wickets—including Pujara’s—for just 28 runs to not allow India run away with the game.
