India’s opening pair batted brilliantly on the rain-effected day 1 of the first Test match between Bangladesh and India at Fatullah. Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan looked very solid right from the first session and batted aggressively throughout the day. Shikhar Dhawan, who had an average of just 27 in his last 3 Test matches, answered his critics with a commanding 150* and he also put behind the skepticism about the opening spot at least for the next series.
Here we look at some of the statistical highlights from the day 1 of the Test match between Bangladesh and India at Fatullah:
1) India’s Shikhar Dhawan became the first batsman to score 150 runs in Tests at Fatullah, surpassing the 144 by Australia’s legendary wicketkeeper batsman Adam Gilchrist vs Bangladesh in 2006.
2) Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay’s 239 unbroken opening stand is the highest partnership for any wicket in Tests at Fatullah, surpassing the 187 for the second wicket between Habibul Bashar and Shahriar Nafees for Bangladesh vs Australia in 2006.
3) Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay’s opening stand is only the fourth 200 or more opening stand for the first wicket in Tests away from home – two against England and one each vs Pakistan and Bangladesh.
4) A Test match is being played in the month of June for the first time on Bangladesh soil.
5) Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay have become only the sixth Indian opening pair to amass 1000 runs in Tests. This is a great achievement for the Indian pair as India have struggled to find the right opening pair after Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir.
6) The 239* run-stand between Dhawan and Vijay is now the highest first wicket stand for India in the Test matches against Bangladesh.
7) Indian opening pairs average 103.10 against Bangladesh. This is the highest by Indian opening pairs against any country in Test cricket.
8) Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay’s marathon opening stand (239*) is the second highest by the pair next only to the 289 vs Australia at Mohali in March 2013. It will be interesting to see whether they can surpass their previous highest of 289.
