Rishabh Pant and Yashasvi Jaiswal put on an unbeaten 54-run stand © Sportzpics
Hasan Mahmud made early dents into the Indian batting before Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant were involved in a half-century partnership to lead India's recovery in the opening session of the first Test in Chennai. After Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto opted to bowl in overcast conditions, Mahmud delivered an excellent start, picking up three early wickets. Jaiswal and Pant, through their unbroken 54-run partnership, helped India to 88/3 at Lunch on Day 1.

Taskin Ahmed delivered a couple of superb balls early on to Jaiswal, generating both bounce and movement to beat the outside edge. He also got one to sharply nip back into Rohit Sharma. The Indian captain survived a Bangladesh review when Mahmud struck him on the pad with an incoming delivery, with the umpire's call saving him. The moisture in the pitch gave the seamers plenty of assistance as they continued to trouble the Indian openers. Rohit opened the boundary count with a drive past point off Mahmud and Jaiswal soon followed with a flick for four off Taskin.

The partnership was broken when Mahmud got one to move away from Rohit, who edged to Najmul at second slip. Jaiswal responded by taking on Taskin, hitting two boundaries with a cover drive and a straight drive. However, India suffered another blow when Shubman Gill was caught down the leg side off Mahmud for an 8-ball duck. Virat Kohli, playing Test cricket for the first time since January, started steadily but chased a wide delivery from Mahmud, edging it to the 'keeper for 6. India was left reeling at 34/3 within the first hour.

Nahid Rana was the first change bowler and he tested the Indian batters with his pace and bounce. Pant, returning to Test cricket after a gap of close to two years, got going with a cut shot over backward point off Rana. Mahmud, meanwhile, bowled an extended first spell, continuing after the drinks break, and consistently troubled the batters with his probing lines. But there was one loose delivery on the pads of Jaiswal which the opener put away for a boundary to help India to the 50-run mark.

Rana's pace was to Pant's liking as he dispatched a full ball through covers and played an authoritative pull for a couple of boundaries. Pant and Jaiswal also rotated the strike well as they scored at a fair clip, with the latter taking on Mehidy Hasan Miraz in his first over for two fours. Pant took on a short ball from Taskin which landed short of the fielder. Pant cracked a boundary through the off side off Mehidy before getting an outside edge off Taskin but the ball landed short of first slip, where Shadman Islam reacted late, and went to the boundary to bring up the half-century stand.

Brief scores: India 88/3 (Yashasvi Jaiswal 37*, Rishabh Pant 33*; Hasan Mahmud 3-14) vs Bangladesh.