How the pitch at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium would behave was clear as early as the 10th ball of the first Test. As Shubman Gill let go a Khaleel Ahmed delivery outside off, wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan collected it on the first bounce.
From the outset, the pitch looked hard but there was a layer of surprise grass covering on it. But the mask came off quickly. For a Day 1 wicket, there was hardly any bounce – if anything deliveries constantly kept low through the day. It was on the slower side, allowing batsmen to get on the backfoot and negate any delivery that kept low. And of course, there was enough turn on offer, especially for left-arm spinners to give it a proper rip.
On such pitches, India’s batting unit at times comes across as sitting ducks. And Bangladesh is not an easy place to tour these days. That is how it panned out as India ended Day One at 278/6, losing five of those wickets to spinners, and mostly due to their failure to adapt to the conditions.
At home, on conditions that are suited to their strengths, Bangladesh have the team and resources to trouble any side. Consistency may still be missing in the longest format, but few would disagree with the strides that they have taken in Test cricket on home soil. Teams that tour the country don’t really get a chance to play practice fixtures. Packed schedules aside, there is still a certain degree of arrogance that they can adjust to the conditions and the bowlers.
But as Sridharan Sriram, who coached Bangladesh at the T20 World Cup and visited the country as spin consultant with Australia, said, these are unique conditions. Spinners tend to undercut, operate on a stump-to-stump line, and slide in the odd quicker one. Plus the pitches tend to offer their own natural variation that makes it hard for visiting sides to get used to straight up.
Of course, India have been in Bangladesh since the onset of December. Two weeks is a good time to get used to the conditions, one could argue. But playing with the red ball is altogether a different story. And for a unit that struggled against them in the ODIs, this was always going to be a challenging task.
Speaking to The Indian Express on the eve of the Test, Sriram had said the best way to counter the Bangladesh spinners is to play the line and stop worrying about turn and bounce. “You have got to play the line, keep playing in front of the pad, and if the ball turns, then get beaten. It is simple… you have got to play the line rather than the spin or the angle,” Sriram said.
And on Day 1, Shubman Gill (scoop), KL Rahul (inside edge), Virat Kohli (LBW playing across the line) and Rishabh Pant (inside edge) were all dismissed playing away from the body, not adjusting to the pace, turn and bounce in the pitch. Cheteshwar Pujara and Axar Patel were bowled and LBW respectively after being beaten by the turn.
Silver lining
That the two batsmen who performed well on the day were Pujara (90) and Shreyas Iyer (82 batting) came as no surprise. The two were lucky, in the sense that Bangladesh couldn’t hold on to the chances they offered – one from the former was a sitter – and they made them pay.
The two are easily the best players of spin in the team. And they adopted contrasting styles to keep India in the game after the early loss of wickets. While Pant’s characteristic 45-ball 46 had given India some momentum, it was the fifth-wicket stand of 149 that could end up being priceless for India. Pujara, who went past Dilip Vengsarkar’s Test tally, was at his typical best.
Brought up playing cricket on the dust bowls of Rajkot, Pujara is easily one of the best players of spin in the world. His ability to use his feet and wrists to find gaps can disrupt a spinner from settling into a rhythm. And even if the spinner succeeds in keeping him tied to the crease, Pujara has a strong defence to fall back on, where the front foot would be used to smother the turn and the soft hands will dead-bat the ball leaving no chance for close-in fielders even if they crouch, or end up being on their knees in some cases. It is old- fashioned cricket, and it still remains effective.
For 202 deliveries, Pujara would keep doing what he knows best: blocking, leaving, rotating strike, punishing the bad balls before getting that one unplayable ball that usually ends up accounting for his wicket.
“It was a good challenge,” Pujara said of the pitch after the day’s play. “Some balls were turning. Not every ball was turning and that is even more dangerous for the batsmen because the odd one which comes in can hit the pad and get you out. We have to be extra careful and it is a nice challenge to have. You can’t relax on this pitch. You have to concentrate more and whenever there is a loose ball, you have to punish it. You can’t bat time on this pitch, because one ball is going to get you.”
If Pujara was in his element, Iyer stuck to his method. The lack of bounce on the pitch meant he didn’t need to sweat over short-pitched deliveries. Like Pujara, whenever he defended, he did so in front of the pad, and played with a straight bat. And for someone who prefers to keep the scoreboard ticking, he found ample opportunities to play shots. At the same time, knowing how the pitch is and the position of the team, he adjusted his game accordingly. While he was fortunate to be dropped at 67, the bails didn’t come off the groove after Ebadot Hossain’s delivery brushed the off-stump when Shreyas was on 77.
“Looking at the pitch, we have a decent total on board, but if we were four or five down, it could have been better. If we get something around 350, it will be a decent total because we have seen there is enough turn on this pitch and we have three spinners in the team. Even when fast bowlers are bowling, the odd one is staying low and it is not an easy pitch to bat on,” Pujara said.
Cheteshwar Pujara bats during the first day of the first test cricket match between Bangladesh and India . (AP) 
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