Fatullah:&nbsp;Shikhar Dhawan hammered a listless&nbsp;Bangladesh bowling attack into submission with a scintillating&nbsp;century as India seized the initiative on a rain-hit opening&nbsp;day, reaching 239 for no loss in the one-off cricket Test,&nbsp;here today.
Making full use of the opportunity that he got due to&nbsp;Sydney Test centurion KL Rahul's illness, Dhawan dominated the&nbsp;proceedings from the start during his cracking unbeaten&nbsp;innings of 150 off 158 balls comprising 21 delectable&nbsp;boundaries.
He was ably complemented by Murali Vijay, who played a&nbsp;contrasting undefeated innings of 89 off 178 balls as the duo&nbsp;were hardly troubled during the 56 overs bowled in the day&nbsp;which vindicated Virat Kohli's decision to bat first after&nbsp;winning the toss.
<img title="Shikhar Dhawan" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2015/jun/dhawan10june.jpg" alt="Shikhar Dhawan" /> Shikhar Dhawan. Pic/ AFP
This is also the second time that the Dhawan-Vijay&nbsp;combination posted a double century partnership after their&nbsp;289-run stand in Mohali back in 2013.&nbsp;
The duo showed positive intent sending the home team&nbsp;bowlers on a leatherhunt -- something that Kohli had promised&nbsp;after taking over the mantle from Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
With a slow and flat track on offer, it was an onerous&nbsp;task for Bangladesh's spin quartet of left-arm spinners.&nbsp;Shakib Al Hasan (0/34 in 9 overs), Taijul Islam (0/55 in&nbsp;12 overs) along with leg-spinner Jubair Hossain (0/41 in 7 overs) and off-break bowler Shuvagata Hom (0/47 in 13 overs) failed to stop the Indian openers who faced little difficulty in negotiating the pedestrian attack.
The only chink in Dhawan's century was just before the&nbsp;rain interruption in the 24th over, when he got a reprieve&nbsp;when Shuvagata dropped a relatively easy catch at short mid-wicket off left-arm spinner Taijul's bowling. The southpaw was&nbsp;on 73 at that time.
After nearly four hours of rain delay, when play finally&nbsp;resumed, Dhawan started from where he had left off before the&nbsp;break. He found the gaps on the off-side with ease to get into&nbsp;the 80's as Vijay completed his 50 with a boundary off Shahid.
An inside out cover driven boundary off Taijul took&nbsp;Dhawan into 90's. After a couple of anxious overs, Dhawan&nbsp;swept Jubair Hossain to bring up his third Test hundred. 
Vijay on the other hand, started slowly as barely reached&nbsp;double figures by the time Dhawan had completed his 50. But he&nbsp;picked up as time progressed playing some lovely drives on the&nbsp;up and used his feet to good effect against the spinners.&nbsp;
His composure at the other end was exactly what Dhawan&nbsp;needed to carry on playing his natural game.&nbsp;The home team's decision to play with four specialist&nbsp;spinners and a single seamer backfired badly as Dhawan toyed&nbsp;with the bowling. While the short balls from seamer Mohammed&nbsp;Shahid were pulled, the width given by spinners like Shuvagata&nbsp;were cut with a lot of ferocity. 
The first boundary of the innings came in the fourth over&nbsp;bowled by Sarkar as Dhawan played a flowing cover drive. Dhawan followed the shot with an off-drive off Mohammed&nbsp;Shahid. 
When off-spinner Shuvagata Hom was introduced, the&nbsp;Delhi left-hander hit back-to-back boundaries -- first played&nbsp;a cut shot and then played a straight drive.&nbsp;Having got into the flow, Dhawan rocked back and&nbsp;forcefully cut Shahid past point and then pulled him for good&nbsp;measure to race into the 30s. There was another poor short&nbsp;ball which made Dhawan just rock back and hit past square leg.&nbsp;
With speed in late 120 kmphs, Shahid, after his first two&nbsp;overs, could not hit the desired length as it became cannon&nbsp;fodder for the attacking left-hander. As Dhawan started&nbsp;carting the Bangladesh attack, Vijay played the perfect second&nbsp;fiddle at the other end.
Dhawan reached his third Test fifty when he played a deft&nbsp;late cut off Shuvagata to complete the mini landmark off 47&nbsp;balls as skipper Virat Kohli and Team Director Ravi Shastri&nbsp;were seen applauding his effort. 
Bangladesh's premier spinner Shakib didn't look&nbsp;penetrative during his first spell as there were a number of&nbsp;loose balls including a loopy full toss that Vijay dispatched&nbsp;to the boundary. 
Leaving out their fastest bowler Rubel Hossain&nbsp;boomeranged as the lone seamer Shahid (0/52) neither had any&nbsp;variation or pace to trouble the duo.&nbsp;
The slowish nature of the track with an odd ball offering&nbsp;occasional turn was not supposed to pose any challenge for the&nbsp;Dhawan-Vijay combination and it didn't happen that way.
Play will start half an hour earlier on Thursday.

India ended the first day of the one-off Test against Bangladesh at 239 for no loss with&nbsp;openers Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay piling on runs in the 56 overs they batted in a rain-marred day

Fatullah Test: Dhawan-Vijay gives rollicking start as India reach 239/0 at stumps

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Home / Sports / Cricket / Article / Fatullah Test: Dhawan-Vijay gives rollicking start as India reach 239/0 at stumps

Fatullah Test: Dhawan-Vijay gives rollicking start as India reach 239/0 at stumps

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