INDIA WON THE 1ST TEST MATCH AGAINST BANGLADESH CONVINCINGLY
India started the long test season with an win over Bangladesh by 280 runs. All the players contributed equally and were looking good through out the match. Selectors got answers to the questions they had and they can now think clearly. Some of the players confirmed their place in the 11, while some of the big names weren't up to their best. Quite a lot positives for team India from the 1st match of the test season.
Let's start with important things that happened before the start of the match. The match was played in MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai. Chepauk is a typical spin track and mostly made up of black soil. But 4-5 days before the match there were some reports that India will be making red soil pitch instead of typical black soil.
Now you guys must be thinking why does the color of soil even matters? It does matter! The cricket pitch is made up of combination of clay, salt composition, slit and fine sand, with a composition of about 50%, 5%, 20%, and 20%, respectively. A black soil wicket is made up of higher clay content, which helps the pitch to absorb more water, and the pitch usually remains intact for a longer time. This leads to elasticity on the wicket, which produces an uneven bounce which is why a batter is advised to take his time to settle in and adapt to the surface, particularly on used wickets. Once a batter gets familiar with the surface, it is generally easy for them to pile on big runs. They also generally don't have a lot of wear and tear and stay consistent through the games. These pitches hold up well and pitches are less susceptible to breaking up easily. However, this also means that the ball will grip on the surface and can turn right from the first few overs of the match. On the other hand, the red soil wicket has a low clay content which results in low water absorption capacity in the pitch and less elasticity. A red soil wicket, due to low water absorption capacity dries sooner and is prone to crumble and break up early on in the games. They also produce good bounce. With more wear and tear, they keep both the batters and bowlers in contention for the match, in different phases. The soil is likely to depart off the pitch as dust, which is usually evident when a bowler bowls on about the third day of the Test. The earlier the soil comes off, the earlier it begins to aid turn and assist the spinners. While the batters will enjoy a relatively flat surface at the start, spinners will begin dominating on the wicket once the cracks begin to appear on the pitch.
Hence, you must have observed that the ball was getting bounce even on the 4th day. Pacers got some help from the pitch during initial days. Pacers took 20 wickets in this match with 21.55 bowling average. Bumrah from India and Hassan Mahmud from Bangladesh were the stand out pacers. Akash deep was very good, and most probably he is in the top contenders list going to Australia later in this year.
WHY DID INDIA MADE THIS TYPE OF PITCH IN CHENNAI?
There's no doubt, India is getting their pacers ready for the BGT. India is trying to create pitches which will create extra bounce just like the pitches in Australia. India's bowling attack is looking good with 4 main pacers in considerations are Bumrah, Shami, Siraj and Akash Deep.
MATCH REPORT:
Some so called cricket experts started trolling Bangladesh for choosing Bowling first in Indian conditions, but it was correct decision to bowl first and Rohit as well said so. Dinesh Karthik gave top notch pitch report, " Speaking about the pitch, it's a red soil pitch. It means that there will be some bounce and spin. The groundsmen have left some residual moisture underneath. The pacers will have a say in the early phase."
India's first innings started with a collapse, Rohit (6), Virat (6), Gill (0) and Rahul (0) failing to score runs and Hassan Mahmud took five wicket haul. Jaiswal played a solid knock of 56 runs off 118 balls, Pant was looking good but got out by scoring 39 runs off 52 balls. But the main savior were Jadeja and Ashwin, the duo made in heaven. They made an partnership of 199 and saved Indian team from getting all out early. Ashwin scored a well made hundred and Jadeja scored 86 runs. India's first innings total was 376.
India had an option to impose follow on but they instead choose to bat again. We saw Gill's redemption, he along with Rishabh scored 100. Rohit and India declared the innings on 287/4, giving a whopping target of 515 to Bangladesh. Rahul looked good while batting before the declaration. I personally feel Rahul should bat 1 down and Gill at no. 5 this will be a good batting line-up.
Bangla batters tried their very best and had some partnerships in between but the target was nearly impossible to reach on the pitch like this. Bangladesh Captain Najmul Hussain Shanto scored 82 runs off 127 balls. India's spin duo were amazing in the fourth innings both taking 9 wickets combined. Ashwin took another fifer and received a well deserved man of the match for scoring century and fifer in the match. In the end India cleaned up Bangladesh batters for just 234 runs and won the test match by 280 runs.
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