When Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan lost the toss and was asked to field by his Indian counterpart KL Rahul in the first Test match in Chattogram, he mentioned that wickets generally fall more in the first session of Day 1 and then towards the final sessions of the third, fourth and fifth day at this venue. Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam proved Shakib right as India went tp Lunch three down with 85 on board. Taijul got two important wickets of Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli. Gill played a disappointing shot but Taijul’s delivery to Kohli was simply superb.
Kohli, who had just walked in to bat after India lost Rahul, who is leading the side in place of the injured Rohit Sharma, was completely foxed by Taijul. In the third delivery of the 20th over, the left-arm spinner got one to just drift and turn to evade Kohli’s bat and hit his pads right in front of the stumps. If anything, Kohli would have been better off had he played that ball on the front foot.
“Kohli was completely bamboozled by Taijul,” said former Australia spinner Brad Hogg who was in the commentary box during that time.
What irked fans more was the fact that Kohli wasted a review by opting for DRS. To be fair to Kohli, the ball barely pitched in line and spun past Kohli’s bat. There was never a doubt on whether the impact was in line or the wickets were hitting but one shouldn’t point fingers at Kohli for having a look at whether the ball had actually pitched within the stumps but try explaining that to the fans.
The replays expectedly showed three reds and Kohli had to go back after scoring just 1 off 5 balls.
Spin was introduced as early as the sixth over and Rahul greeted his counterpart Shakib Al Hasan with a cut shot through point region.
Gill too showed intent with a cut and pull off pacer Ebadot Hossain in the following over as India reached 30 for no loss in seven overs.
However, the boundaries dried up thereafter as Bangladesh bowlers stuck to stump to stump line and stifled the Indians.
Gill perished to a poor shot, an avoidable sweep, while Rahul played away from his body off pacer Khaled Ahmed only to drag it back on to the stumps.
The top-order batters could have used their feet more against the spinners but preferred to stay back in the crease. The much needed attacking approach was displayed once again by Rishabh Pant who put the pressure back on Islam by smashing him for a couple of fours and a six over wide long-on. Pant welcomed office Mehidy Hasan Miraz with a square cut while Islam conceded two boundaries in the last over of the morning session.