Pant, Jaiswal, Rahul fall as Bangladesh…

Chennai, September 19: Dismissing Rishabh Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul in quick succession helped Bangladesh gain the upper hand over India as the hosts reached 176/6 in 48 overs at tea time on the first day of the first Test against Bangladesh at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday.

With bowling conditions remaining good, Bangladesh were able to make further progress in a session they won, despite Jaiswal's fifth Test fifty and an unbeaten 21 from Ravichandran Ashwin, who added 32 off 34 balls for the seventh wicket with Ravindra Jadeja (seven not out).

Three overs after lunch, Pant began by cutting Mahmud through point for four. But on the very next ball, Pant again tried to cut the ball outside the off-stump, but this time he was too late and hit a weak under-cut straight to the keeper, who fell for 39 off 52 balls.

Jaiswal continued to be confident at the crease, especially as Mahmud splashed a little too much on the leg side, and made his fifty off 95 balls. But Nahid Rana ended his knock on 56 off 118 balls when the pacer found Jaiswal's thick outside edge and carried it well to first slip.

In the next over, Rahul could not keep his leg glance down and was caught leg-shot by Mehidy Hasan Miraz for 16 off 52 balls. Well received by a sparse crowd at Chepauk, local boy Ashwin did not disappoint with his attractive stroke and pull while getting a nudge between the slips to score his third four. India will hope that Ashwin and Jadeja will move to cover to post a competitive total.

Brief results: India 176/6 in 48 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 56, Rishabh Pant 39; Hasan Mahmud 4-35) against Bangladesh