Last time India team played a Test match in Australia, Shikhar Dhawan was dropped from the playing XI and KL Rahul was his replacement. Naturally, Rahul was supposed to open the Indian innings with Murali Vijay during the one-off Test against Bangladesh. But due to dengue, Rahul missed out on the Test series and Dhawan got a chance to prove his worth once again.
On a pitch that had practically nothing for the bowlers, Dhawan made most of the conditions by playing all over the park. Early on, he was slightly tentative but with time, he took control of things by cutting, pulling and driving the ball. He also used his feet fearlessly as if he was playing a Delhi & District Cricket Association club match.
On the other side of the wicket, Vijay took all the time in the world to settle down before unleashing his array of strokes. Like he batted against the Aussies more than five months ago, Vijay was not in a hurry to score as Dhawan batted more aggressively.
When the rain interrupted the match, India were cruising at 107 without loss. Dhawan and Vijay were batting on 74 and 33 respectively when the match stopped after 23 overs. As the game resumed, Dhawan and Vijay started from where they left.
Dhawan continued to score at will and reached his third Test century, while Vijay completed his half-century. The Delhi-born looked quite impressive and used the conditions to the fullest,
Earlier, Indian captain Virat Kohli won the toss and promptly decided to bat first. The team management went for five bowlers in the playing XI. Both the off-spinners R Ashwin and Harbhajan Singh were picked in the team along with three pacers (Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma and Varun Aaron).
Surprisingly, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was left out. As far as the Bangladesh bowlers were concerned, there was nothing from their side to stop the free flow of runs from the Indian bat. It was India all the way!
