Vijay inches towards century, India post 206/2 at Tea

Hyderabad: Murali Vijay (98 batting) and Cheteshwar Pujara (83) helped India post 206/2 at tea against Bangladesh in their one-off cricket Test at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on Thursday.

Vijay and skipper Virat Kohli (17) were at the crease when umpires announced the tea break.

Resuming the post-lunch session at 86/1, Vijay and Pujara went on to score their respective 50s to put India in a commanding position before the latter was sent back to the pavilion by rightarm offie Mehedi Hasan Miraz.

The 178-run second-wicket partnership was broken in the 51st over with the scoreboard reading 180.

Unperturbed by the fall of Pujara's wicket, Vijay opened up along with Kohli and the runs continued to flow. In his 145-ball knock so far, the 32-year-old has slammed one huge six and 11 boundaries.

Earlier, with India opting to bat, opener K.L. Rahul failed to give the desired start the hosts needed and departed early. He was bowled by pacer Taskin Ahmed in the very first over with just two runs on the board.

Incoming batsman Pujara and opener Vijay then deftly forged the second-wicket partnership to steady the fort for the hosts.

Brief score:
India 206/2 (Murali Vijay 98 not out, Cheteshwar Pujara 83; Taskin Ahmed 1-17, Mehedi Hasan Miraz 1-70) against Bangladesh.