India 176 for 6 (Ashwin 21*, Jadeja 7*, Jaiswal 56, Mahmud 4-35) vs Bangladesh
There has to be something extraordinary in the conditions for you to risk batting last in India. Yet both teams picked three quicks each, and wanted to bowl first despite records for heat broken in Chennai in the week leading up to the Test. The pitch, though, was soft underneath, and the skies were overcast on the day. After three indifferent overs, when batters hardly had to play at a ball, Mahmud got into his work.
Starting with his second over, Mahmud never left the good length, getting just enough nip each way. Rohit Sharma survived a close lbw call with one that seamed in, but soon edged one that seamed away. Ironically, Rohit was on strike for this delivery because of a quick single.
In early, with his No. 3 slot under doubt against the moving ball, Shubman Gill never looked comfortable in his eight-ball stay. Mahmud kept drawing him forward and kept nibbling the ball each way. The end, though, was anti-climactic: a feather down the leg side. Virat Kohli came out full of intent, flicking extravagantly, looking to get right forward, but with high intent comes high risk. When Mahmud got it right, Kohli was nowhere near the ball when he went driving, and edged to the keeper. Mahmud’s figures at the end of this over: 5-2-6-3.
However, Mahmud could not have bowled from both the ends. The other end remained a relief end. The examination of the batters was nearly not as ruthless as Taskin Ahmed and the tearaway quick Nahid Rana kept banging the ball in, not drawing the maximum out of the surface. When they did go full, they went right up, allowing both Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant, playing his first Test in over 600 days, to drive.
Without even looking for quick runs, they added 62 in 16.3 overs. Just as batting had started looking easier, though, Pant failed to slam the door on Bangladesh. A ball after a crunching square-cut four, he was late on an even shorter delivery. Side-on replays showed he made contact behind his body, toe-ending it through, the shot almost an afterthought. Not that Pant needed the replay to realise his mistake: he was banging his pad in disgust as he walked off. It was perhaps the luck Mahmud had earned in his first spell.
Taskin and Rana bowled much better after lunch. Tasking kept hitting the good length without reward, repeatedly going past Jaiswal’s bat. Rana kept the pressure on, and drew the edge with his extra pace. As it tends to happen once you get on song, Zakir Hasan then pulled off a stunner at short leg to send back the serene-looking KL Rahul. Offspinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz also produced in a much better spell in the second session to let the fast bowlers rotate from the other end.
India had now gone from 34 for 3 to 96 for 3 to 144 for 6. The last of those wickets brought massive cheers as the next man in was Chennai’s own R Ashwin. In the brief while before tea, Ashwin had the crowd in raptures with some rasping shots to go into tea on 21 off 19. He and Ravindra Jadeja had added 32 for the seventh wicket by tea.
Sidharth Monga is a senior writer at ESPNcricinfo
