Mominul leads Bangladesh fight back after top order trouble

New Delhi: Bangladesh captain Mominul Haque and senior batsman Mushfiqur Rahim dug in and steadied the side after the tourists’ top order collapsed on the opening day of the first test against India on Thursday.

Mominul’s decision to put his side into bat in his first test as captain appeared to backfire after they slumped to 31-3 at Indore’s Holkar Cricket Stadium.

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But Mominul, on 22 at lunch, and Mushfiqur (14 not out) denied India further progress, guiding Bangladesh to 63 for three.

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With Mominul opting to bat, his India counterpart Virat Kohli got exactly what he wanted and unleashed his pace attack to capitalise on the early morning conditions. Ishant Sharma, back in the side after replacing spinner Shahbaz Nadeem, and Umesh Yadav did just that, regularly beating the tentative bats of both Bangladesh openers.

Umesh drew first blood in the sixth over, generating extra bounce with a delivery that kissed the shoulder off Imrul Kayes’ (six) bat and flew to Ajinkya Rahane at third slip.

In the next over Ishant induced the other opener, Shadman Islam, into poking at a fuller delivery to be caught behind for six.

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Mohammed Shami then put the tourists further on the back foot, pitching a fuller delivery and generating enough late movement to trap Mohammad Mithun lbw for 13. Mominul was lucky still to be around after his attempted cut shot off Ravichandran Ashwin burst through Ajinkya Rahane’s fingers at slip.

Mushfiqur also got a reprieve after Kohli dropped him at third slip off Umesh. (Reuters)

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