Vijay, Kohli score centuries as hosts display their intent to dominate Bangladesh; score 356/3 at stumps on Day One
On a day of missed opportunities, Murali Vijay batted like a king and Virat Kohli, like an emperor. When the Tamil Nadu opener gets going, he can put to shame even the most stylish of left-handers. And, there is no stopping India captain, who just crossed 1,000 Test runs in the home season and looks for a few more hundreds.
Vijay's love affair with the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium continued just the way his on-field partnership with Cheteshwar Pujara is blooming. In his previous outing at this venue, he slammed 167 in a 370-run stand with Pujara against Australia in March 2013.
On Thursday, the first day of a maiden Bangladesh Test on Indian soil, Vijay notched up his ninth Test century – 108 – and raised 178 for the second wicket with Pujara.
However, he missed out on a big score, just like how Pujara let go of the opportunity to notch up a century, and KL Rahul's lack of footwork in the first over cost him a chance to make a big impression and continue from his 199 he made in his previous Test knock.
However, Kohli did not miss out on any opportunity to score. He did not waste much deliveries either reaching his 15th Test fifty off just 70 deliveries and took another 60 deliveries to reach his 16th three-figure mark. His deputy, Ajinkya Rahane made a return to Test 11 after injury by scoring an unbeaten 45, not showing any pressure that can come with the fact that he was walking into the Test 11 by right at the expense of the triple centurion in India's last Test innings, Karun Nair.
There may have been an even covering of the grass on the pitch. Perhaps that was why India went with three medium-pacers, preferring Umesh Yadav to Jayant Yadav. But one should not get over excited by the grass covering, which was more for binding the pitch than give the fast bowlers any advantage.
Had that been the case, India captain Virat Kohli would have chosen to bowl after winning his first toss in four Tests and unleashed pace trio of Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar on the inexperienced Bangladesh line-up.
As has been in the past, on a beautiful batting surface, India finished the opening day strongly at 356/3 with captain Kohli (111*) and his deputy Rahane looking good to carry on for more and bat their opponents out of the Test.
Vijay and Pujara have such an understanding between them that they have eight century stands, including five this season, in 36 times batting together for the country. They are friends off the field too and extend that camaraderie when they bat for India.
Yet, in the early part of their innings, there was a couple of misunderstandings between them that nearly cost Vijay his wicket. On 35, Vijay flicked off-spinner Mehedi Hasan to mid-wicket and waited for the ball to clear the fielder Islam Rabbi.
In the meantime, Pujara crossed Vijay and made his ground for a single, forcing Vijay to run for his life. Had Hasan collected the resultant throw from Rabbi, Vijay would have been out by miles.
In another instance of hesitancy between them, the two were within hand-shaking distance after Pujara square drove left-arm spinner Taijul Islam and returned to their respective creases.
Barring these two, the Vijay-Pujara stand dominated the Bangladesh attack that tried all that they could including an unsuccessful DRS for LBW when Kohli had middled the ball on to the ground. The medium-pacers Ahmed and Rabbi looked for reverse swing while spinners got the odd turn but not so much to trouble the Indians.
Islam looked the best of the spinners and was rewarded for his perseverance when Vijay attempted a sweep and missed the line to be bowled round his legs. Off-spinner Mehedi Hasan came here with a lot of expectations and was the first-choice spinner, coming into the attack as early as the 13th over. Along with Islam, Mehedi tried to extract turn but had little success.
Mehedi's lone success came off a straight delivery that took the edge of Pujara, playing for the turn, and the ball lobbing off wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim's pad for him to complete the catch.
With nothing much for the bowlers, India are expected to bat longer and aim at surpassing the Chennai Test total of 759/7 decl and choke the opposition.
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