India’s opening batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal’s half-century gave them a fighting chance, but they finished 176 for six on the first day of the first test against Bangladesh in Chennai. Following Jaiswal’s excellent knock, Rohit Sharma’s team lost three important wickets after lunch, making recovery unlikely in this first innings.
Najmul Hossain Shanto, Bangladesh’s captain, won the toss and fielded first at M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in the early morning. Bangladesh’s three-wicket burst, led by Hasan Mahmud (4-35), stunned India early. The bouncy pitch helped bowlers as India’s top order fell to 34 for three in the opening hour.
Hasan removed India’s struggling captain Rohit Sharma (6) first. Rohit’s first run came off a delivery to Shanto at second slip after 11 balls. Soon after, Hasan caught Shubman Gill behind for a duck when the Indian opener nicked the ball down the leg side into the wicketkeeper. Virat Kohli was removed for six runs after edging a delivery behind and making a bad shot.
Yashasvi Despite early defeats, Jaiswal played gracefully. The left-hander was confident in difficult circumstances, hitting a number of superb drives and flicks to resume India’s innings. India recovered from an early setback because to Jaiswal and Pant’s 62-run fourth-wicket partnership. Pant strongly opposed Bangladesh bowlers after resuming Test cricket in December 2022 following a vehicle accident.
To reach 50, Jaiswal maturely rotated his stroke and penalized loose deliveries. Bangladesh was under pressure as Pant effortlessly cut and pulled for a huge score. The Indian innings stabilized, but Hasan Mahmud struck again after lunch, knocking Pant for 39 on a wide delivery that the wicketkeeper-batter awkwardly edged to slips.
Bangladesh persisted, and Jaiswal edged Nahid Rana’s superb delivery to first slip to cap his 56-run innings. Rana ended Jaiswal’s 109-ball crease stay by finding his bat edge outside the off stump. India dropped to 146-5 without both middle-order batsmen.
KL Rahul, the sixth addition, left the crease immediately. Mehidy Hasan Miraz trapped him in front of the stumps and bowled him out for 16 after a battle. Bangladesh’s domination may trigger India to tumble at 176-6.
At tea, India relied on veteran all-rounders Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. The two held off Bangladesh’s unrelenting attack for 32 runs. Ashwin, a batting prodigy, hit 21 unbeaten runs, while Jadeja, a middle-order staple, scored seven. They’ll aim to guide India to 200 on a weakening pitch, forcing the lower order to step up.