🏏BD vs India - 1st Test: Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chattogram 🏏 - Page 6

The pitch has been a strange one. It had a grass cover but wasn't really a greentop. There was uneven bounce on offer for the seamers but from a line outside off. The spinners found some turn but nothing alarming. Generally, the subcontinent pitches deteriorates and start helping spinners as the game progress. But the Chattogram surface doesn't quite behave like that. So what to expect? Mohammad Isam tries to find out.

India are 278 for 6, with Iyer batting on 82. He was dropped twice and once the bails didn't dislodge when the ball brushed the off stump. He will be joined by Ashwin as India look to extend their advantage. But at one point, they were struggling at 48 for 3 but Pujara and Pant bailed them out while batting in their contrasting styles. Sidharth Monga has got more about the odd couple and their fascinating partnership.

We are just five minutes away from the live action. And with that, it's time for me to hand over the reins to Vishal Dikshit.

Aeman: "It could have been a more competitive match if catches were caught yesterday. Let's see if luck favors this morning."

Meanwhile, Jaydev Unadkat has joined the team.

Thanks Hemant. The host team walks out and so do Iyer and Ashwin. Pujara spoke to the host broadcaster some time back: I'm still happy with the way I batted [despite missing the century], got a couple of important partnerships, with Pant and Iyer . The team was in a spot of bother at one time and we thought we wouldn't get to 250 also. Yes, disappointed to miss the century but I'm sure that will come if I keep batting like this. When the ball is hard it's a little difficult to bat and gets easier once the ball softens. You can never feel set on this pitch as a batsman because that one ball turns a lot and if you're not concentrating enough you could get out. It's a challenging pitch, slightly on the slower side and if you bowl in the right areas you can get wickets.

KL always fail to contribute.

IND

(93.3 ov) 283/6

BAN

Day 2 - Session 1: India chose to bat.

Current RR: 3.02

• Min. Ov. Rem: 86.3

• Last 10 ov (RR): 26/2 (2.60)

IND

(100 ov) 293/7

BAN

Day 2 - Session 1: India chose to bat.

Current RR: 2.93

• Min. Ov. Rem: 80

• Last 10 ov (RR): 15/1 (1.50)

IND 294/7 (101.1)

CRR: 2.91

Day 2: 1st Session

Partnership: 5(20)

Last Wkt: Shreyas Iyer b Ebadot Hossain 86(192) - 293/7 in 97.6 ov.

Ovs Left: 78.4

Last 10 overs: 18 runs, 1 wkts

Toss: India (Batting)

I think, Aswin has 1 or 2 Test centuries to his credit.

Ind --300/7

Drinks are on the field now. Solid opening hour for Bangladesh. Not only have they dried the scoring rate this morning but also managed to take out the big wicket of Iyer. They are into the tail now although Ashwin obviously can produce vital knocks. Anything around the 340-350 mark will be what India will be eyeing, if not more. The hosts wouldn't want to let it stretch that much.

Ind --309/7 after 106 overs