India-Bangladesh Test Series: DONE AND DUSTED

India took a little over three days to bring Bangladesh down to earth, dishing out a 280-run hammering in the series opener to maintain their formidable home record.

Bangladesh arrived fresh from a 2-0 series sweep in Pakistan earlier this month but in India they confronted rivals they had not beaten in their previous 13 attempts.

Winning a Test series in India is considered one of the toughest tasks in cricket and Bangladesh are not the only ones to struggle there.

India have not lost a Test series at home since 2012 and only four defeats in the last decade underline how formidable they have been as hosts. They have reached the World Test Championship finals and are currently top of the WTC standings.

India captain Rohit Sharma was pleased with the strong start to a season that also includes three home Tests against New Zealand and five in Australia.

179-178 India’s win-loss record in Tests after their win in the Chennai Test. It is the first instance in India’s Test history when their wins have exceed their losses. India are now among the five teams with a positive win-loss record in men’s Tests

37 Five-wicket hauls for Ashwin in Tests, the joint-second most in the format. He is now tied alongside Shane Warne and is only behind Muthiah Muralidaran’s 67

1 Ashwin is the first man to score a hundred and take a five-wicket haul in the same Test twice at one venue. He had also achieved the feat at Chepauk against England in 2021

38 Ashwin, 38, is the oldest player to achieve the double of scoring a hundred and bagging a five-wicket haul in a Test. At 36, Polly Umrigar was the previous oldest

4 Instances of Ashwin scoring a hundred and taking a five-wicket haul in the same Test. Only Ian Botham (five) has done it more times than Ashwin

“I thought it was a great result, looking at what lies ahead for us,” Rohit said. “Yes, we are playing after a long time but you’re never out of cricket ... It was just about getting together as a group, which we did. We came here a week before, we had a good lead-up to the Test match and then we got the result that we wanted.”

Playing a Test match after more than six months, the only time India looked in discomfort was when their top order wobbled on a lively red-soil strip at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

We want to build our team around strong bowling options, we have to be ready to face whatever the conditions offer. Whether we play in India or outside, we want to build the team around that. It was a great result looking at what lies ahead for us. We are playing after a long time, but you are never out of cricket. Rohit Sharma, India captain

I make a living by bowling, so bowling comes first. Batting is something that comes naturally but I have focused my thoughts with batting. I have tried to compartmentalise. It is a work in progress. I am probably enjoying my play because of what I am doing and not because of what I want to get out of it. Ravichandran Ashwin

The hundred was special. It was emotional, I wanted to do well in Tests, which is where I belong the most. Being on the field gives me pleasure more than anything else. I am always nervous before matches, even after hitting a hundred. And this time I was playing after two years, so there was nervousness. Rishabh Pant

India’s go-to spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were always going to play a crucial role but few expected it to be with the bat.

Their epic seventh-wicket partnership of 199 in the first innings powered India from a precarious 34/3 to a commanding 376 and control of the game.

In their second innings, Rishabh Pant celebrated his return to Test cricket with a belligerent hundred while Shubman Gill put a first innings duck behind him with an unbeaten century.

Bangladesh managed 149 and 234 with skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto (82) waging a lonely, futile war.

Shanto has demanded a better batting display from his team in the second and final Test in Kanpur next week but praised the performance of seamers Hasan Mahmud, Taskin Ahmed and Nahid Rana.

“The positive thing is the way Hasan, Taskin and Rana bowled in the first two to three hours. I think it was really impressive,” Shanto said.

India have retained the same squad for the second Test.

SCOREBOARD

India 1st Innings 376

Bangladesh 1st Innings 149

India 2nd Innings 287/4d

Bangladesh 2nd Innings

Z Hasan c Jaiswal b Bumrah 33

S Islam c Gill b Ashwin 35

NH Shanto c Bumrah b Jadeja 82

M Haque b Ashwin 13

M Rahim c Rahul b Ashwin 13

S Al Hasan c Jaiswal b Ashwin 25

L Das c Sharma b Jadeja 1

MH Miraz c Jadeja b Ashwin 8

T Ahmed c Siraj b Ashwin 5

H Mahmud b Jadeja 7

N Rana not out 0

Extras: (b 5, lb 7) 12

Total: (all out, 62.1 overs) 234

FOW: 1-62, 2-86, 3-124, 4-146,

5-194, 6-205, 7-222, 8-222, 9-228

Bowling O M R W

Jasprit Bumrah 10 2 24 1

Mohammed Siraj 10 5 32 0

Akash Deep 6 0 20 0

Ravichandran Ashwin 21 0 88 6

Ravindra Jadeja 15.1 2 58 3

Player of the Match: R Ashwin