Chattogram: Pace duo of Mohammed Siraj and Umesh Yadav reduced Bangladesh to 37 for 2 at tea after a stunning lower-order fightback helped India take control of the opening Test against Bangladesh here Thursday.
Siraj struck on the very first ball when he induced an edge off lefthander Najmul Hossain Shanto with an away-going delivery.
Leading the pace department in absence of Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah, Yadav then reduced Bangladesh to 5 for 2 inside the fourth over after inducing an inside edge off Yasir Ali, who was playing away from his body.
But thereafter Litton Das calmed things down with his fluent drives and remained unbeaten on 24 off 26 balls.
At the break, Das and Zakir Hasan (9) were in the middle with Bangladesh trailing India by 367 runs with eight wickets in hand.
The opening session was all about Ravichandran Ashwin (58 off 113 balls, 2×4, 2×6) and Kuldeep Yadav, who made a perfect case for him as an allrounder in absence of Ravindra Jadeja, with a career-best 40 (114b; 5×4).
Playing his first Test after more than 22 months, Kuldeep extended splendid support to Ashwin as the duo frustrated Bangladesh with an 87-run partnership for the eighth wicket.
The 28-year-old Kuldeep, who has a century and six fifties averaging 22-plus in first-class cricket, got off the mark after 18 balls as he looked solid with his defence. His slog sweep and reverse sweep shots also caught the attention.
Ashwin, who has five Test centuries including four against the West Indies, showed a lot of composure and maturity en route to his 13th Test half-century.
The duo hardly took a foot wrong pushing India past the 400-mark after the visitors resumed the day at 278 for 6 and lost overnight batter Shreyas Iyer (86) with the addition of just four runs to his total.
Having batted India out of a tricky spot on an opening day, Iyer once again failed to get to a well-deserved hundred and got out with an addition of just four runs to his overnight total.
Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan mostly employed his star spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz to go in tandem with pacer Khaled Ahmed but Ashwin hardly looked in any trouble.
He made his intentions clear stepping down to Mehidy for a six. Luck also favoured Ashwin when he survived an ‘umpire’s call’ after left-arm spinner Taijul Islam had him trapped in front of the leg stump when he was on 34.
That pace spearhead Ebadot Hossain was taken out of the attack after his impressive spell of 4-1-7-1 in the morning also helped the Indian cause.
Kuldeep also oozed confidence as Ashwin was happy to take singles and give him the strike.
