Shubman Gill scored his first Test hundred while Cheteshwar Pujara recorded the fastest century of his career as India set Bangladesh a target of 513 after declaring on 258 for 2 on the third day of the first Test.
Bangladesh were 42 for no loss at close facing a mamoth task of having to bat out two full days.
Kuldeep Yadav, playing his first Test in 22 months and eighth overall, continued with his wicket-taking ways picking up his third five-wicket haul to skittle out the hosts for 150 in the first innings.
India took full advantage of Bangladesh’s injury woes — the hosts were left with just three frontline bowlers after Ebadot Hossain and Shakibal Hasan couldn’t bowl during the day.
KL Rahul and Gill, however, started slowly, accumulating only 16 runs in the first eight overs.
Gill upped the scoring rate after lunch but Rahul failed to check his pull shot, caught at fine leg for 23.
It would be interesting to see if Rahul retains his place in the XI if Rohit Sharma returns for the second Test.
Gill was the more enterprising on Friday, never letting the rival pacers dictate terms with their short ball ploy. The opener used the sweep shot to good effect against the spinners.
Gill moved to 99 with a reverse-swept four off Mehidy and two balls later hit him over mid-on for another boundary to get to his hundred. He fell for 110 while attempting another big shot, but Pujara took over after that.
Having reached his fifty off 87 deliveries, Pujara took only 43 balls more to get to his 19th hundred. He used his feet against the spinners and was not afraid to lift the ball over the infield.
Kuldeep nervous
Kuldeep admitted that he was “nervous” playing Test cricket after so long.
“White-ball, I have been playing continuously since my injury. In between I played red ball for India A, so I have bowled long spells,” he said after the day’s play. “Yes I was nervous after such a long time but not thinking so much about the performance.”
Proteas to bury past
Brisbane: The ghosts of Newlands still haunt Australia as the hosts prepare for their first Test series against South Africa nearly five years after the ball-tampering scandal rocked the cricket world.
“There will be moments, no doubt, where there will be a few feisty encounters but hopefully it doesn’t reach the stage that we experienced in 2018,” Dean Elgar said on the eve of the Test on Friday.
“What’s happened in the past happened. There are no grudges.
“We know they want to win and we want to win.”
Written with Reuters inputs