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Spurned chances cost Tigers driving seat

India end first day on 278-6 as Taijul picks three, Pujara scores 90
Staff Correspondent
15 Dec 2022 00:00:00 | Update: 14 Dec 2022 22:37:36
Spurned chances cost Tigers driving seat
Bangladesh's Taijul Islam (L) celebrates the dismissal of India's Cheteshwar Pujara (not pictured) during the first day of the first Test in Chattogram on Wednesday – AFP Photo

Bangladesh were left to rue the first day of their first Test against India at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram as the control of the match was handed to them on a silver platter but they refused to take it up as they missed chances throughout the day to hand India a lifeline along with a slight upper hand by the end of the day’s play.

India ended the day on 278-6, courtesy of 90 from Cheteshwar Pujara and an unbeaten 82 from Shreyas Iyer, who will be hoping to lead the charge today morning to reach triple figures himself and take India near or beyond 400.

For Bangladesh, the star of the show was Taijul Islam, who tirelessly bowled throughout the day, with immaculate lines and lengths, and picked up two wickets in the morning session, of Shubhman Gill and Virat Kohli, before slipping past Pujara’s defence with a peach of a delivery in the final session to keep the Tigers in the game with figures of 3-84 bowling 30 overs.

Two of the other three went to Mehidy Hasan Miraz, including one of Axar Patel’s which came on the final delivery of the day alongside the scalp of the dangerous Rishabh Pant earlier. Syed Khaled Ahmed dismissed the Indian skipper KL Rahul.

After the day’s play, Taijul admitted that Bangladesh would have been in a better position if they could have taken their chances, but was still content with the outing.

“I don’t feel we are in a very bad spot considering it’s the first day, but if we did not make the mistakes we could have been in a better place. Missing catches are a part of the game, nobody drops them intentionally.

“If we had them five or six down with 10-15 overs left to play, we could have bowled them out and took our chances,” he said in a press conference on Wednesday.

India skipper KL Rahul won the toss and opted to bat first, and the day started off dull as Indian openers, Gill and Rahul, started off with caution and ease, putting together 41 for the opening stand.

They then suffered a mini-collapse which started with Gill (20) trying to lap sweep Taijul but only managed an edge, which was taken by a running Yasir Ali Chowdhury easily.

He was soon followed by his captain, who dragged a wide Khaled delivery onto his stumps, to return for 22, before Taijul struck again next over, this time to get rid of Kohli (1) by showing a great display of his skill.

Taijul’s delivery drifted in, which led Kohli to play for no turn, but the ball turned sharply instead, and the Indian batter was trapped LBW, a decision which he reviewed to only waste it.

But Pujara was there, and to tackle the tricky Taijul, India promoted Rishabh Pant ahead of Iyer, a gamble that worked.

Pant’s natural counter-attacking game was seemingly taking the game away from Bangladesh as he put together 64 runs with Pujara for the fourth wicket but eventually perished to Miraz by dragging a delivery onto his stumps for 46 off 45 balls, an innings where he hit six fours and two sixes.

That partnership could have been broken earlier as Ebadot Hossain had found Pujara’s edge in the first over following lunch when the batter was only on 12, but wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan spurned the chance and the right-handed Indian batter made Bangladesh pay.

He and Iyer eventually put together 149 runs from the fifth wicket and were seemingly running away with the driver’s seat of the match. Bangladesh had a sure opportunity in the 76th over when Iyer was on 67 as he tried to hoick Miraz but only found Ebadot at the deep, but the pacer dropped a dolly to hand India a lifeline.

Ebadot got rid of Iyer in his first over with the second new ball, or everybody thought he did, when Iyer was beaten and the ball hit the stumps. But the bail refused to come off, meaning Iyer got let off again.

But Taijul had the final say on the stand. The left-arm spinner was outfoxing Pujara throughout the day as he went past the batter’s edge several times, and then found the perfect delivery to get the set Pujara back 10 runs away from his 19th Test ton.

“I think the line and length was very good. He missed a few, which were turning a bit too much. He played for the straight one on that delivery, but the ball turned slightly and found the stumps,” Taijul said of the dismissal.

Axar was the last to go on the day when he was trapped LBW on the final delivery of the day’s play by Miraz, meaning India ended on 278-6.

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