India’s pace bowlers once again wreaked havoc and it was the senior man Ishant Sharma who shone the brightest on day one in the historic day-night Test against Bangladesh in Kolkata, taking his second five-wicket haul in a home Test.
Ishant Sharma (5/22) claimed five wickets, Umesh Yadav (3/29) snapped three while Mohammed Shami (2/36) took two as Bangladesh were dismissed for just 106. The pacers were so dominant that India used only over of spin by Ravindra Jadeja and that too for a change of ends.
The visitors were bowled out in the 31st over.
Bangladesh attack then found itself at the receiving end of a masterclass from the Indian captain Virat Kohli, who remained unbeaten on 59 off 93 balls, as India reached 174/3 at stumps on the opening day. The stodgy Cheteshwar Pujara, with two pink ball hundreds under his belt in first-class cricket, scored a chiselled 55 as India took a 68-run lead.
Earlier, Bangladesh top-order were blown away to be reduced to 73/6 in country’s first day-night Test where the pre-match hype didn’t translate into quality contest.
The much-talked about pink ball proved to be quite the weapon for the Indian pacers but it must be said that the Bangladesh’s batsmen didn’t show any intent for survival on what was a pitch that seemed to have good bounce and carry. So much so that Bangladesh had no hesitation to bat first after winning the toss again, with the pitch looking dry.
Yadav ripped the Bangladesh top-order apart after a change of ends as the so-called five-day match ran the risk of an early finish.
Bangladesh skipper Mominul Haque once again surprised everyone opting to bat first, although the pitch did not seem as seamer-friendly as it did in Indore.
The highlight of the first session was, without a doubt, India’s sensational catching behind the stumps.
Lunch was taken abruptly midway into the 22nd over after Liton Das retired hurt for 24 following a big blow on his helmet in the forehead region off a Mohammed Shami delivery in the previous over. Later, Das was replaced in the team by Mehidy Hasan under the new concussion substitute rules. Bangladesh were, in fact, forced make two changes with Nayeem Hasan being replaced by Taijul Islam as the concussion substitute rule was used twice in the same innings for the first time in Test cricket.
The heavily-lacquered pink ball had a quiet first three overs before Bangladesh batsmen started collapsing. The ball was seaming and the pacers were getting it to rear up from the good length.
Bangladesh batsmen looked unsettled, equally by the bowlers and the occasion.
Such was their plight that for the first time in the subcontinent, batsmen Nos 3, 4 and 5 (skipper Mominul Haque, Mohammad Mithun and senior-most player Mushfiqur Rahim) were all dismissed for duck.
Pushed into the unknown territory without any practice back home, Bangladesh opening duo of Shadman Islam and Imrul Kayes survived some anxious moments in the first six overs before Ishant Sharma trapped the latter.
Umesh then triggered the collapse in his second spell with two wickets in three balls, first being skipper Mominul who was dismissed by a beautiful diving one-handed catch by Rohit Sharma.
Next was Mohammed Mithun, beaten by pace and playing on to his stumps.
And despite the scepticism surrounding the pink ball, Saha looked a class act behind the stump as usual as the ball was swinging a lot after moving the batsman.
His low catch of Mahmadullah, outstretched and dragged across Virat Kohli at the first slip, was the highlight of his keeping as he also completed a milestone of 100 dismissals in longest format.
The post-lunch session saw a hint of resistance from Bangladesh’s lower-order batsmen but Shami and Ishant breathed fire during their spells. Ishant eventually took three wickets after the break to bring up his second five-wicket haul in a home Test, 12 years after his first against Pakistan in 2007.
Both Indian openers suffered rare failures as they were dismissed either side of the tea break in the evening. But Kohli and Pujara made batting look easy in the final session.
The city turned pink, the crowd responded to the brainchild of its favourite son Sourav Ganguly, who arranged a first-of-its-kind match in less than a month’s time.
However, the gulf in standards along with the singular lack of intent from the visitors took some sheen away from the game.
(With PTI inputs)