IND v BAN: India in command at 356/3 after tons from Virat Kohli, Murali Vijay

Murali Vijay celebrates his fifth as Pujara L looks on Pic AFPHyderabadSkipper Virat Kohli and openerMurali Vijay pulverised a hapless Bangladesh attack intosubmission with majestic hundreds as India reached acommanding 356 for three at the end of the first day of theoneoff Test hereThe Indian captain 111 batting scored his 16th Test hundred in just over a session after Vijay 108 battedsolidly in the company of Cheteshwar Pujara 83 to provide anideal platformEn route his ninth Test century Vijay played 160 balls hitting 12 boundaries and a lovely six down the ground offShakib Al Hasan The only glitch in his otherwise blemishfreeinnings was a near runout possibility when he was on 35To sum up Indias batting Pujara was the epitome of patience Vijays shots had contempt and skipper Kohli cappedit with a display of utter disdain in what turned out to be atotal domination by the Indian teamEach innings was special in its own way and the home team would like to bat the minnows out of the game with a giganticfirstinnings total The slowness of the pitch will make itdifficult for the team batting secondAs far as Indian batting is concerned if Vijay hitsublime pull shots Kohli looked regal playing the drives onthe upA firm push by the Indian captain off Taskin Ahmed was atreat to watch The pull in front of square off a bouncerfrom Kamrul Islam Rabbi was more of a slap shot It showedwhy his quality of batsmanship is a notch above Vijay who infact was fantastic in his own rightSuch was Kohlis nonchalance that he merely celebratedafter completing his hundred with a powerful whip off MehediHasan Miraz through midwicketPoor Rabbi repeatedly bowled short and was hit for as many as 13 fours in the 91 runs that he conceded in 17 oversThe platform was set when inform Pujara and Vijay added178 runs for the second wicket The VijayKohli partnershipfor the third wicket produced 54 runs and the unbroken fourthwicket stand with a fitagain Ajinkya Rahane 45 saw thehosts add 122 runs in 262Once Vijay was bowled round the legs trying to play thesweep shot off leftarm spinner Taijul Islam 150 Kohlitook it upon himself to literally manhandle the BangladeshbowlersThe intensity and the urgency to score quickly was evident as India upped the ante in the second session thatyielded 120 runs in 31 overs The final passage of play waseven better as India amassed 150 runs in 32 oversPujara who was playing second fiddle to Vijay will rue his luck as it was a soft dismissal with an outside edge beingsnapped up by skipper Mushfiqur Rahim with rookie offspinnerMehedi Hasan Miraz being the gainer Pujara hit nineboundaries in his patient 177ball knockThe intensity and the urgency to score quickly was evident as India scored as many as 120 runs in the second session of 31 overs during which Vijay sent the Bangladeshi bowlers packingPujara who was playing second fiddle to Vijay will rue his luck as it was a soft dismissal with an outside edge being snapped up by skipper Mushfiqur Rahim with rookie offspinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz being the gainer Pujara hit nine boundaries in his patient 177 ball knockBy aggregating 1605 runs in this firstclass seasonwhich includes Tests as well as other fourday matches Pujaraalso broke a 52yearold record held by Chandu BordeThis was the seventh time that the VijayPujara duo wasinvolved in a century stand and is now joint second along withGautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid The highest number of centurypartnerships is eight It is jointly shared by MohinderAmarnathSunil Gavaskar and Rahul DravidVirender Sehwag duosFor Vijay his love affair with Bangladesh bowlingcontinued as he had scored 150 in Fatullah during the previousmeeting between the two teams That he loves the Rajiv GandhiStadium in Uppal was evident as it was his second successiveton at the venue having scored his careerbest 167 at thisvery ground in 2013An easy pitch with a bowling attack lacking experience came to the fore as Bangladesh bowlers fizzled out post first hour Save Taskin Ahmed who showed a lot of heart on a slow track the other bowlers including experienced Shakib Al Hasan lacked incisiveness and discipline to trouble a batting lineup that is very potent at homeIn the post lunch session it was Vijay who launched an offensive by taking on oppositions best bet Shakib The halfcentury came off a gorgeous cover drive Having hit Kamrul Islam Rabbi for three boundaries in the first session the veteran Tamil Nadu opener again unleashed a pull shot with Rabbi using the short ball to no effectHe reached his 70s with a back cut and the down the ground six off Shakib As he reached 90iquests he became a bit cautious not trying to complete the milestone before teaEarlier opting to bat India survived opener Lokesh Rahuls 2 first over dismissal but Vijay and Pujara ensured that there were no demons in it Rahul whose scores hover between single and three digits in longer format was bowled when he dragged a fuller delivery from Taskin while attempting a cover driveHis new ball partner Rabbi worked up decent pace with his slinging action Vijay and Pujara were initially cautious as only seven runs came off the first five overs The first boundary came in the sixth over bowled by Rabbi when Pujara opened the face of his bat to glide it past point regionThe seasoned duo who have been involved in some great partnerships over the years decided see off the new ball with first 10 overs yielding only 26 runs Once Soumya Sarkar was introduced as the first change bowler in the 11th over Indian batsmen opened with Pujara whipping him for a boundaryA cautious Vijay then showed his range of strokes using Rabbis pace and extra bounce to good effect He pulled the pacer thrice for boundaries The first couple were pull shots behind square and the third was past square leg a typical Nataraja Shot which would remind one of Kapil Dev He hit an eye catching cover drive off TaskinVijay looked in good touch and Pujaraiquests defence looked impregnable as Bangladesh bowlers didniquestt bowl that well in the second hourThe only time that Vijay was in real trouble was a miscommunication with Pujara with both turning up at the strikers end The fielder Rabbi landed an accurate throw at the nonstrikers end but Miraz bungled with collection as Vijay made it in nick of timePujaras best shot in the pre lunch session was one hit back past Rabbi that rocketed to the fence