Valiant fightback from Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja drives India to comfortable position on Day 1

A magical turnaround from two of India’s finest all-rounders saw the visitors bow out on day one with a blaze of glory. After the early jitters that saw India lose their top-order in no time whatsoever, it was a heroic fightback spearheaded by Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant before lunch while Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja pulled the strings thereafter keeping the Bangladeshi attack at bay.

Winning the toss, Bangladesh put India to bat. India lost the cream of their batting order in the form of Rohit Sharma (6), Shubman Gill (0) and Virat Kohli (6) in quick succession, reducing them to 34/3. An incoming Rishabh Pant (39) joined forces with Yashasvi Jaiswal to steer the Indian ship to safety. Knitting together a 62-runs stand for the fourth wicket, Pant fell to Hasan Mahmud that was his fourth scalp for the day.

Jaiswal continued his fight alongside KL Rahul but another double whammy in a span of just four balls claiming the Indian opener for 56 while removing KL Rahul for 16, rocked India to the core as they wobbled at 144/6. With the smell of blood in the air, Bangladesh went all guns blazing against two newcomers, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

The duo started shakily but slowly and steadily did find their footing. Once they had sensed firm ground beneath their feet, both Ashwin and Jadeja hammered away at will. Ashwin completed his sixth Test century to remain unbeaten for 102 while Ravindra Jadeja was not out for 86. The duo added 195 runs for the seventh wicket and will resume tomorrow morning as India finished for 339/6 at the end of the day.

Brief scores: India 339/6 (Ravichandran Ashwin – 102*, Ravindra Jadeja – 86*, Hasan Mahmud – 4/58)