Tigers start as promised

On the very first day of the first Test between Bangladesh and Australia, the home side's ploy to trap the visitors was demonstrated with some panache. The absorbing day at Mirpur's Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium provided enough evidence that the Tigers' pre-series roars of a possible 2-0 outcome were not an idle threat. The reality that the Australians experienced at the fag end of the day's play was that Bangladesh had reached a position from where they could fully and confidently execute their strategy of victimising the Aussies on a tailor-made wicket.

Tamim Iqbal (71) and Shakib Al Hasan (84) stood tall on the occasion of their 50th Test faced with a wicket -- which soon became spotted with footmarks -- that helped pacers and spinners alike make merry from the very beginning, to share a masterful 155-run fourth-wicket partnership on a day in which 13 wickets tumbled.

At the end of the first day's play however, it was the panic the home side created in the visitors' camp while reducing them to 18 for three in reply to Bangladesh's first-innings 260 that became the centre of discussion and brought smiles on the faces of the home team players and coaching staff, who rushed to the pitch soon after the teams left the ground.

One could have understood the amount of pressure the Bangladesh spin duo of Shakib and Mehedi Hasan put on the visitors if he or she saw the run-out of Usman Khawaja, who padded a ball from Shakib towards short cover and scampered halfway down the pitch, apparently looking to avoid the spin challenge as much as possible, and failed regain ground -- an unfamiliar attitude indeed from an Australian batsman.

Most importantly, off-spinner Mehedi looked like he was back in his den to repeat the heroics of the England series not just because he gave the first breakthrough with the new ball by removing David Warner, but because of the way he terrorised the opponents with awkward bounce which foreshadowed a daunting task for the remaining Aussies batsmen, including danger man Steven Smith. After Khawaja's run-out, Shakib removed nightwatchman Nathan Lyon in the same over to open hunt for genuine scalps on the second morning.

On a turner, where the odd ball has started to keep low or rear up from big footmarks, a special effort will be needed from Australia's batsman and especially from Smith, similar to what Tamim and Shakib did after Bangladesh were teetering on 10 for three following a triple-strike from fast bowler Pat Cummins.

The fans might have been surprised as the Test started on time under brilliant sunshine, despite heavy rainfall the previous night continuing till early morning and the rain only disrupted play for half an hour in the evening session, but they might not have been surprised that Soumya Sarkar yet again fished at a delivery to edge Cummins to gully. Neither was it surprising that Imrul Kayes looked uncomfortable at number three and punched on the up without any foot movement to get a bottom edge wicketkeeper Matthew Wade.

Sabbir Rahman was out for a first-ball duck to a peach of a fast out-swinger from Cummins that he edged to the keeper, but the young batsman piled on the agony as he wasted a review that could have saved Mehedi later in the innings.

And neither was it surprising that a special effort from Tamim and Shakib repaired the damage as the two vital pillars of Bangladesh cricket have proved time and again that they are capable of such match-changing displays.

Tamim's innings continued the path of burgeoning maturity that he has been on since the 2015 World Cup and it was nice to see the way he defused Lyon while Shakib played in his style as the left-hander took the risks and played shots that were at times reckless, but ultimately gave the team a platform to control the day.

Part-time off-spinner Maxwell broke the partnership by removing Tamim, who tried to cut but the ball turned and stopped on him, forcing him to check his shot. Shakib fell victim to extra bounce from Lyon as Australia became rejuvenated at the stroke of tea. The quick dismissal of captain Mushfiqur Rahim by Agar dashed Bangladesh's chances of reaching the 300-mark but some small contributions from Nasir Hossain (23), Mehedi (18) and Shafiul Islam (13) took the score to 260, which was 10 more than Bangladesh had aimed for, according to Shakib.