India reach 278/6 against Bangladesh thanks to Cheteshwar Pujara and Shreyas Iyer

On the first day of the first test match between India and Bangladesh, which took place on Wednesday in Chittagong, Cheteshwar Pujara and Shreyas Iyer drove India to a powerful 278-6 score.

Both Pujara and Iyer were riding their luck as they reached their respective scores of 90 and 82 respectively. Axar Patel was caught leg-before by off-spinner Mehidy Hasan on the final ball of the day for the score of 14, and he was the second of Mehidy Hasan’s two wickets.

Pujara’s arduous innings, which included 11 fours, was ended when he was bowled by Taijul Islam, the most successful bowler for Bangladesh, who finished with 3-84.

After India had lost their fourth wicket on 112, with traces of spin appearing in the first-day track at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Pujara and Iyer got together to bat as a pair.

In the first session of the match, left-arm spinner Taijul bowled opener Shubman Gill for 20 runs before bowling India’s danger man Virat Kohli leg-before for one.

During this time, KL Rahul pulled a delivery from Khaled Ahmed against his stumps after reaching the score of 22.

After India had been reduced to a score of 48-3, Rishabh Pant started a comeback by hitting eight fours and two sixes, which put India back in the driver’s seat.

After lunch, Mehidy put a stop to Pant’s aggressive innings by bowling him for 46. This marked the end of Mehidy’s aggressive innings.

During the second session, ball number two, wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan gave Pujara out to Ebadot Hossain. Pujara was on 12 at the time.

After then, Pujara and Iyer faced off against the bowlers from Bangladesh, and then the home team fought their way back into the game with two late strikes.

After stand-in captain Rahul won the toss and decided for India to bat first, the team got off to a quick start, scoring 41 runs in the opening 13 overs of the game.

Gill made an attempt at a paddle sweep, but Yasir Ali got the upper edge at the leg slip. After Rahul was taken out by Khaled, Taijul was able to take the crucial wicket of Kohli.

After successfully completing a fitness test, Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan will lead the home team, and opener batsman Zakir Hasan will play in his first Test match.

A number of key players for India have been sidelined due to injury, including skipper Rohit Sharma, who will miss at least the first match of the series, as well as fast bowler Mohammed Shami and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.

The ICC World Test Championship will include both of the next matches in the series. India is in fourth place after winning six of their 12 matches this season. As a result of their eight losses out of ten matches, Bangladesh are in last place.