Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay took India to a commanding position after the rain-curtailed first day of the Test match against Bangladesh at Fatullah stadium today.

When bad light stopped play, only 56 overs were bowled during the entire day when Indian batters made the most of the batting conditions.

Dhawan was playing his natural game and took on the hapless bowlers from ball one.

He remained unbeaten on 150 from 158 balls, and struck 21 boundaries with his usual flair and force. He peppered the off-side with some cracking shots of spinners during his brilliant knock.

Dhawan could have missed out on his third century of his career had Shuvagata Hom held on to a catch early in the first session.

Murali Vijay played second fiddle to Dhawan most of the day, and chose to be cautious when his partner was blazing away.

He started slowly, but began to open his arms after reaching his fifty. He was unbeaten on 89 runs having played 178 balls.

Vijay's fluency was evident in all the eight fours he struck, including a massive six straight down the ground.

He reached his 11th fifty of his Test career, and looks good for a big score tomorrow.

Bangladesh bowlers looked innocuous on the benign pitch at Fatullah and failed to trouble the Indian openers with a probing line and length.

They bowled on both sides of the wicket, and got punished repeatedly by the opposing batters.

The lone pacer Mohammad Shahid gave away 52 runs in 12 overs while Taijul Islam and Shuvagata Hom bowled 25 overs between themselves for 102 runs.

Rain after 23 overs of play stopped proceedings of the sole Test match between Bangladesh and India.

India were off to a splendid start with Bangladesh bowlers unable to bowl to a plan.

As Bangladesh played only the single fast bowler, the overhead conditions ideal for swing bowling went begging.

The spinners were unable to extract sufficient turn and bounce to trouble the Indian openers.

Although the pitch had a tinge of green to it, India captain Virat Kohli didn't hesitate to bat first after winning the toss.

Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim (Captain), Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Litton Das (Wicketkeeper), Shuvagata Hom, Jubair Hossain, Taijul Islam and Mohammad Shahid.

India: Shikhar Dhawan, M Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha (Wicketkeeper), R Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma and Varun Aaron.