Hosts marginally ahead after day one despite batsmen failing to utilise good starts

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TBS Report
03 February, 2021, 05:20 pm
Last modified: 03 February, 2021, 05:27 pm
As the pitch started helping the spinners from the very first day, Tigers will be eyeing to put somewhat a total of 300-plus and put the pressure back on Windies right away on day two.

Playing Test after a long hiatus against a weakened Windies side could have put extra pressure on the Tigers. The start seemed to prove the pressure right, but slowly Tigers came out of their shield and began dominating the Windies bowlers. 
But the Windies were not too far behind. They kept on taking wickets at regular intervals, kept Bangladesh in check when they seemed to get away with a well-set partnership and should be happy with their first-day performance overall. 
After day one, Bangladesh are marginally ahead. They posted 242 runs on the board losing 5 wickets at stumps. As the pitch started helping the spinners from the very first day, Tigers will be eyeing to put somewhat a total of 300-plus and put the pressure back on Windies right away on day two.
All Bangladeshi batsmen except Tamim Iqbal had a good start but failed to utilise and go big. Shadman Islam is the only one to bag fifty. He bagged his second Test fifty but couldn't score more than 59. His innings of 59 runs came off 154 deliveries and he batted for 235 minutes. 
Shadman's dismissal was questionable though. He was trapped LBW to Jomel Warrican which seemed to have missed leg stump but Shadman and his partner Mushfiqur Rahim didn't ask for a review. 
"I was feeling good, but it looked like a slow pitch. I was sticking to my plan and wanted to bat long. I tried my best," Shadman said after the day's play. 
There were four 40+ partnerships, but neither went big. That is one point Tigers will be disappointed. After Tamim departed early to Kemar Roach, Shadman and Najmul Hossain Shanto put up a partnership of 43 runs. They looked pretty solid and comfortable before Shanto had a brain fade and gave away his wicket after scoring 25.
Shadman and skipper Mominul then put up a 53-run partnership. Mominul was caught at short midwicket off Warrican after bagging 26 runs. 
Mominul will be disappointed for throwing away his wicket after such a good start. 
Shadman then fell shortly after Mushfiqur Rahim arrived. He may have reasons to blame Mushfiq for not urging him to take the review which would surely revive his innings. 
Mushfiq was the last man to go. He scored 38 off 69 balls before getting caught at slip. Rakheem Cornwall pouched low to take a sharp catch. 
The remaining 15 overs were safely played by Shakib Al Hasan and Liton Kumar Das. Shakib played a matured knock for his unbeaten 39-run innings where he was rightly accompanied by Liton who scored 34 off 58 deliveries. 
Windies have pegged away with regular wickets, and Jomel Warrican has been their hero with three wickets. He bagged 3 for 58 from his 24 overs. He picked up the wickets of Mominul Haque, Shadman Islam and Mushfiqur Rahim. 
Apart from Warrican, Kemar Roach picked up the wicket of Tamim Iqbal. 
Rakheem Cornwall, the off-spinner Bangladesh team were worried about, didn't pick up any wicket but did trouble the batsmen when he bowled. He gave 56 rus+ns from 22 overs he bowled.
All the Windies bowlers have actually been pretty good. In fact, all of their frontline bowlers went at 3 runs per over or less.
Spinners got good turn from the second session and it will be inspiring Bangladesh bowlers more. It is the conversion rate that the batsmen will be eager to improve. But they will still need to put some more runs on the board and then come out and let the spinners do their work. 
"Maybe it looks great. We have got a good start, but we need more runs and a few more partnerships to get a big score," Shadman mentioned the importance of putting more runs on the board.

Brief scores-
Stumps, Day one

Bangladesh 242/5 (90 Overs) (Shadman Islam 59, Shakib Al Hasan 39*, Mushfiqur Rahim 38, Liton Kumar Das 34*, Jomel Warrican 58/3)
 

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