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Hasan Mahmud was pumped up. He should be. Not every day you get the prized wicket of Virat Kohli. Murali Karthik was calling him a ‘baby-faced assassin’ in the commentary box. 

Hasan, the right-arm pacer, is typically not a big celebrator. But he was certainly happy. Later he said, ‘That was not the celebration; that was a simple gesture. I’m happy to take the wicket of the current best batsman. Everyone should be happy.’ 

Bangladesh were on a roll in Chennai on the opening day of the first Test. Hasan was leading them. The pitch was offering something; the ball was doing a bit.

The visitors had India at 34-3 inside the first hour, and then it was 144-6 before the tea interval. 

‘My plan was simple. I was bowling according to my plan with the new ball. What I do well, I keep doing it all the time. Just got success with that,’ said the pacer, who took four wickets on the opening, in the press conference.

When Hasan was troubling the Indian batters, the other two pacers were not able to create pressure.

Taskin Ahmed was bowling short where he should’ve tried to go full. Nahid Rana couldn’t maintain the consistency with line and length. 

And then Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja took it away. Mehidy Hasan Miraz got an early success but couldn’t capitalise more. Shakib Al Hasan was expensive. 

Even Hasan thinks that the momentum is with the hosts now.  

‘We dominated in the morning’, he said.

‘The wicket has now become good. Bowlers are trying to bowl with a minimum number of boundaries. At a time the momentum was with us, now it has been shifted.’

But he believes that it can change.

‘But this is the game of cricket. Anything can happen now. It can shift towards us tomorrow morning again. But we will try to bowl while keeping the runs in check.’

Hasan also thinks that they could’ve been more disciplined.

‘I think we should have bowled with fewer boundaries. We could’ve bowled with a bit more discipline. Then the runs could’ve been less. We are trying to bowl in a disciplined way.’ 

Still, Hasan is hopeful that the Tigers can turn it around.

‘We are all trying to put the batsman under pressure. The momentum is with them now. If we can get an early breakthrough, then the momentum will come towards us. It will be nice if we can get them all out within 400 runs.’