IND vs BAN, 1st Test: Jadeja, Ashwin anchor India recovery on Day 1 after initial scare

The blazing sunshine making way for overcast skies was telltale of a change in fortunes. Yashasvi Jaiswal overcame a jittery build-up, Hasan Mahmud thrived at a traditionally spin-friendly venue and India staged a formidable recovery through Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin on the opening day of the first Test against Bangladesh at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday.

If Jaiswal’s resilience through a probing phase helped restore normalcy, Jadeja and Ashwin’s breezy rearguard put the host in the ascendancy, with the scoreboard reading 339 for six at Stumps.

Jaiswal had every reason to furrow his brow after four tough days of practice during which he could hardly put bat on ball against the seamers, but just like the weather here, he turned a new leaf.

Ashwin, meanwhile, played with abandon before reaching his sixth Test century off just 108 balls to a rousing standing ovation from his home crowd.

While Ashwin cut, slashed and ramped through the off-side with nonchalance, employing Nahid Rana’s bounce and pace to his advantage while also copping one on the helmet, Jadeja pierced the leg-side field and had no qualms in playing second fiddle to his senior spin-bowling partner in their unbroken 195-run alliance that threw shade on the top-order’s meek surrender in the morning.

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India was staring down the barrel at 34 for three after Mahmud’s opening burst saw a pall of gloom descend over the sparse crowd, when Jaiswal joined forces with Rishabh Pant to lead the revival with a 62-run partnership.

Pant was promoted ahead of KL Rahul to form a left-handed duo with Jaiswal and counter Mahmud, who had his tail up after nabbing three right-handers in the span of 10 overs.

In keeping with an aberrant morning, skipper Rohit Sharma made contact with the ball off his 10th delivery via an inside edge before Mahmud’s length ball moved away and found his outside edge on its way to the slip cordon.

Shubman Gill’s failings against the incoming delivery were exploited right from the outset, with Mahmud conceding four-byes in desperation to make the ball tail in and then rapping him on the pads with inward seam movement before strangling him down leg-side for an eight-ball duck.

Kohli momentarily repaid the cheers that greeted his arrival with a convincing start, flicking through the on-side and dabbing with soft hands, but he eventually fell to temptation, feeling for the ball wide outside off-stump and edging behind to the wicketkeeper for a run-a-ball six in his first Test since January this year.

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Jaiswal and Pant put their heads down, even as Mahmud had his tail up, and rode India out of the morass. Though Jaiswal endured a testing period early on, getting beaten by the one seaming away, he gradually trusted his leaves outside off-stump and punished anything too full and straight with wristy flicks.

A shimmy down the track also helped him convert fullish deliveries into half-volleys, which he duly deposited through the off-side. When spin was first introduced in the 19th over through Mehidy Hasan Miraz, he slapped one through cover and then swept another for boundaries.

Pant was imperious and innovative through the off-side but an innocuous prod after a crisp punch to the point boundary gave Mahmud his fourth scalp.

Rana, who had taken an unwieldy liking to pitching too short, got a pace-on delivery to bounce from a hard length, finding Jaiswal’s outside edge right after he had poked at one that fell just short of second slip.

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Rahul followed Jaiswal to the dugout after Zakir Hasan pulled off a stunner at short-leg and was the spinners’ lone victim on the day.

If that sparked Bangladesh’s hopes of bundling India out on the opening day, Jadeja and Ashwin dashed them with fearless strokeplay.

Shakib Al Hasan was introduced as late as the 53rd over and was put to the cleaners by Jadeja and Ashwin for his errors in length, conceding 50 runs in eight overs.

Just when the sun peeked through the clouds for the first time in the day with about an hour of play remaining, the Jadeja-Ashwin show proved yet again why, even though cloudy conditions may have prompted the management to opt for a three-man pace attack for the first time in a home Test since 2019, the spin duo was not going anywhere.