ASHWIN SHINES as INDIA hammer Bangladesh in Test

Bangladesh arrived fresh from a 2-0 series sweep in Pakistan earlier this month

PTI Chennai: India took a little over three days to bring Bangladesh down to earth, dishing out a 280-run hammering in the series opener on Sunday to maintain their formidable home record. Bangladesh arrived fresh from a 2-0 series sweep in Pakistan earlier this month but in India, they confronted rivals they had not beaten in their previous 13 attempts. Winning a test series in India is considered one of the toughest tasks in cricket and Bangladesh are not the only ones to struggle there. India have not lost a test series at home since 2012 and only four defeats in the last decade underline how formidable they have been as hosts.

They have reached the World Test Championship finals and are currently top of the WTC standings. India captain Rohit Sharma was pleased with the strong start to a season that also includes three home tests against New Zealand and five in Australia. "I thought it was a great result, looking at what lies ahead for us," Rohit said. "Yes, we've been playing after a long time but you're never out of cricket ... It was just about getting together as a group, which we did. "We came here a week before, we had a good lead up to the test match and then we got the result that we wanted. Playing a test match after more than six months, the only time India looked in discomfort was when their top order wobbled on a lively red-soil strip at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.

India's go-to spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were always going to play a crucial role but few expected it to be with the bat. Their epic seventh-wicket partnership of 199 in the first innings powered India from a precarious 34-3 to a commanding 376 and control of the game. In their second innings, Rishabh Pant celebrated his return to test cricket with a belligerent hundred while Shubman Gill put a first innings duck behind him with an unbeaten century. Bangladesh managed 149 and 234 with skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto (82) waging a lonely, futile war.

Shanto has demanded a better batting display from his team in the second and final test in Kanpur next week but praised the performance of seamers Hasan Mahmud, Taskin Ahmed and Nahid Rana. "The positive thing is the way Hasan, Taskin and Rana bowled in the first two to three hours. I think it was really impressive," Shanto said.