Run deluge looms after Kohli, Vijay tons

Fielding lapses had cost Bangladesh quite heavily during the New Zealand series and it was a similar indiscretion that prevented them from putting India under pressure early on the first day of the one-off Test in Hyderabad yesterday.

Yes, the Indian batting order is quite difficult to penetrate and there was not much that the wicket at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium was offering to the bowlers.

Yet the Bangladeshi players would feel that had they not wasted a golden opportunity to run Murali Vijay -- who ended up scoring a century -- out in the 19th over with the opener on 35, yesterday's score line could have been a bit kinder than the 356 for three India reached at stumps.

Vijay's century was followed by a quick hundred from Indian skipper Virat Kohli, who raced to his first century against Bangladesh off 130 balls towards the end of the day. It was the Indian skipper's 16th hundred.

A review of the day would compel the Bangladesh team management to rue the 19th over yesterday, aside from their inconsistency in line and length.

A dab towards square-leg by Vijay was brilliantly stopped by a diving Kamrul Islam Rabbi. Cheteshwar Pujara at the other end had not noticed Kamrul's effort and sprinted for a run. By the time Vijay asked him to stop, Pujara had come all the way and forced his partner to run towards the bowler's end.

Kamrul fired in a throw towards bowler Mehedi Hasan Miraz, who unfortunately could not collect the ball. The ball deflected off his hands and by the time Mehedi had the cherry in hand, Vijay was already home.

Vijay was on 35 at that point and he used the opportunity to score a good-looking 108 off 160 deliveries. India were poised at 67 for one when the lapse occurred and the pair ended up taking the hosts past the 200 mark.

There was barely any relief for the Bangladesh bowlers for most of the day. It is not as though they did not try.

They put fielders in the deep mid-wicket region and tried to bounce Vijay out; they asked Mehedi to bowl around the wicket in order to check the run-flow and hope to build pressure.

During that phase, Taskin Ahmed seemed to be Bangladesh's most threatening bowler.

He had removed KL Rahul in the very first over after the batsman played on to a full-length, wide delivery to the stumps. He also managed to get some swing in his third spell.

Vijay and Pujara did seem as though they would fall for the traps planned by the visitors a couple of times.

Both the batsmen, for instance, got edges off Miraz that went past the desperate hands of Shakib Al Hasan at first slip in the 15th over.

Vijay, on a similar note was never afraid to take on the bouncers and pulled them successfully every time Kamrul pitched them short.

It was eventually Mehedi who got the breakthrough against the run of play and broke the 178-run stand for the second wicket.

Mehedi had been bowling around the wicket for quite some time, attempting to stem the flow of runs, but changed his approach immediately after Pujara had driven him for a beautiful four through the mid-on region.

In the very next ball, he got a thick edge while attempting to defend Miraz outside the off-stump. The ball jumped off Mushfiqur's pads and went up in the air. Mushfiqur had to make a short dive to hold on to it.

Pujara's departure for 83 brought to the crease Indian skipper Kohli -- much to the delight of the 10,000-plus spectators in the ground who cheered ferociously upon his arrival.

He made his intentions clear by smashing a wide delivery from Mehedi through cover for a four.

While Kohli seemed as busy as ever, trying to drill the boundaries and taking every single on offer, Vijay had slowed down a bit as he headed towards the three-figure mark.

It was a slightly different approach from a batsman who had earlier been itching to hit the spinners for boundaries. His shot of the match was a beautiful straight drive for six against Shakib Al Hasan.

He had 12 fours to his name and managed to dominate every bowler except for Taijul Islam.

After Vijay reached his second century, off 149 balls, with a boundary, he attempted to revert to his previous approach and looked to be more aggressive.

In the process he tried to sweep Taijul to the fine-leg fence for a four but was bowled instead in the 64th over.

Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane then carried on, lifting the run rate

Kohli reached his half-century off 70 balls in the 73rd over, courtesy of a flick off Shakib.

Bangladesh took the new ball in the 81st over and unfortunately could not make use of it. Instead of bowling on a good line and length, close to the stumps, they were wide and attempted too many bouncers. As a result, both batsmen punished them and the nine overs of the new ball produced 65 runs. In the process, Kohli reached 111 and remained unbeaten.