Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara put on a 178-run partnership in 301 balls to put India in a commanding position at 206/2 at lunch on Day 1 against Bangladesh in Hyderabad.
After a relatively quiet first session in which Bangladesh shelled their chances, Vijay and Pujara made them pay as they put their feet on the accelerator. The boundaries started flowing as both the batsmen got to their fifties, increasingly getting more and more comfortable with the pitch. Bangladesh’s bowlers bowled fairly well but India’s batsmen showed their class, taking singles at will and slamming the boundaries whenever there got a chance.
Vijay was the aggressor, unafraid to get the big shots out. The moment of the session came when, after hitting Bangladesh’s best player Shakib Al Hasan for a boundary, he stepped out in the next delivery and hit him straight over his head for a six.
But Bangladesh did manage to pull something back just before lunch. Mehedi Hasan Miraz’s probing line finally paid off as he got Pujara’s edge. After some juggling, skipper and wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim managed to hold on to get India’s second wicket. That though brought Virat Kohli to the crease and he made his intentions clear off the very first ball he faced, cutting it away for four. Vijay also seemed unaffected, finishing the session on an unbeaten 98, two runs short of his ninth Test century.
Brief scores:
India 206/2 (Murali Vijay 98 not out, Cheteshwar Pujara 83; Taskin Ahmed 1/31, Mehedi Hasan 1/70) vs Bangladesh