The pacer Hasan Mahmud skittled the entire Indian top-order in the first innings of the first test and after that, some verbal sparing happened between India’s Rishabh Pant and his opposing wicket keeper Ahti Das.
Owing to a serious car accident he suffered in December, Pant was making his way back into Test cricket after a long absence. There was a throw that caught he was annoyed since he was at the receiving end of the throw and the words exchanged with Das were caught on the stump microphone.
“”Mere ko kyu maar rahe ho? (why are you hitting me)?”, Rishabh Pant is said to have asked Das, to which the Bangladeshi keeper replied: Woh to fekega hi na (‘He has to throw’).
The despair deepened when Mahmud ripped apart India’s top order to make it 34 for 3 within the first 10 overs before lunch with still 54 runs. Pant (33) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (37) helped India reach 88 for 3 at the second break.
In fact, there was a lunch interval before Mahmud was able to dismiss the last Indian wicket and did not complete a century of strikers. The right handed oriented pacer took his fourth catch of the inning pant on the bark of wicket keeper Das for 39.
The patch developed with red earth and a little bit of moisture underneath on the first morning was a boon for Mahmud and he made it say professionally with the scalps of Rohit Sharma (6), Virat Kohli (6), and Shubman Gill (0) all going in before even sending Rishabh Pant back himself.
Pakistan employed an approach similar to that of India and Bangladesh; they trusted up to three fast bowlers and two slower bowlers with the objective to take advantage of the overcast skies for their bowlers.
