2 mistakes and 1 masterstroke by India in the 1st Test vs Bangladesh ft. the declaration
Team India continued their dominance over Bangladesh in the Test format as they beat the visitors by a whopping 280-run margin at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. With the win, Rohit Sharma and company took a commanding 1-0 lead in the two-match Test series.
India are on course to make the final of the ongoing World Test Championship, and comfortably at that. But despite coming out on top by a considerable margin, it wasn't one of their best performances at home. Going forward, Gautam Gambhir and the team management have plenty to think about.
On that note, here are two mistakes and one masterstroke made by India in the first Test against Bangladesh.
#3 Mistake - India didn't try to throw Hasan Mahmud's lengths off
After Bangladesh made a brave call by opting to bowl first, Hasan Mahmud turned in an excellent display of seam bowling to set the cat amongst the pigeons for India. Unlike Taskin Ahmed and Nahid Rana, who were rather erratic with their lengths, he hit the right areas to trouble the Indian top order.
Mahmud bowled full enough to ask questions of the Indian batters, forcing them to play off the front foot while not being decisive with their footwork. His spurt of wickets gave Bangladesh a foothold in the match, but it must be said that India didn't do enough to throw him off his plans.
Rohit Sharma and his fellow batters should have either danced down the track to negate the swing and lateral movement off the pitch or hung back in the crease and forced him to bowl a little fuller, balls they could have later picked away.
#2 Masterstroke - R Ashwin's counter-punch floored Bangladesh
![Ashwin hit his sixth Test ton [Image: BCCI on X]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2024/09/ad7fe-17270121774326-1920.jpg?w=500)
With India staring at a below-par first-innings total, Ravichandran Ashwin needed to get stuck in and produce something admirable. Alongside Ravindra Jadeja, he did just that.
Ashwin smashed the fastest Test century of his career so far and counter-attacked to throw the Bangladesh bowlers off their lines and lengths. He wasn't afraid to take the aerial route against the spinners and accessed the off-side boundary with great ease against the fast bowlers.
It would have been easy for Ashwin to settle into his shell and try to milk runs to take India to a decent total. Instead, he went on the charge, and that went a long way in the hosts establishing control over the Test.
#1 Mistake - KL Rahul could've been given some more time at the crease
There was a mild threat of rain on the forecast, and India had already amassed enough runs on the board to come away with a comfortable win. So, it was justified that Rohit Sharma declared the second innings when he did.
However, India perhaps erred on the side of caution too much. With almost two and a half days left to play in the Test, they could have easily had their batters stay out there for another hour or two, and that would have given KL Rahul a chance to bring himself into some semblance of rhythm.
Rahul struck a few boundaries through the off-side and looked good during his 19-ball stay at the crease in the second innings, but he didn't get nearly enough time to truly get his eye in.
With an important series against New Zealand and Australia coming up, the middle-order batter will have a crucial role to play. And having him in the best of nick will be high on India's priorities.