With the even coating of grass on the Uppal Stadium pitch, and having dismissed KL Rahul with the fourth ball of their first ever outing in India, Bangladesh would have fancied their chances of silencing the Indian batsmen.
But, they tasted two more successes in the rest of the day, one in each session. It was a day of hard work as India had two centurions, one half-centurion and one in sight of a fifty.
Bangladesh's Taskin Ahmed, their fearsome fast bowler, finished the opening day at 1/58 in 16 overs sent down in four spells.
It was a new experience for him to bowl on flat Indian pitches, having made his Test debut in New Zealand last month. The 21-year-old right-armer did not really feel encouraged by the grass covering.
"Not much really, not much," Ahmed said when asked if there was any hope for the bowlers. "But in the morning first hour, the ball moved a bit. But after that, it was dry."
While also giving credit to the Indian batsmen, Ahmed can only get better with experience. The greatest benefit is that he has legendary West Indies pacer Courtney Walsh to learn the art of fast bowling from.
"Everyday, he is helping us and no doubt he is the legend. We are grabbing lots of things from him. The main thing in our team is that all the fast bowlers are very inexperienced. We are learning day by day, learn in every session. It is going to help us in the future," he said of the Bangladesh's bowling coach Walsh's presence.
Ahmed was quick to gather that patience was the key to bowling on such type of batting-friendly pitch. "Bowlers have to be patient. It's easy to play. You can't bowl loose deliveries. If the batsman makes mistakes, then you succeed. If you bowl short or wide or half-volley, they are going to score easily. We have to bowl a tight line and length according to the field, then we can survive here."
Ahmed and his bowlers would learn to rectify the mistakes of bowling too many short balls, perhaps continuing from where they left in New Zealand recently. He was hoping against hope to shoot out India for 450 and rued the run out chance of Murali Vijay (on 35*).
"If that run out had taken place, we could have had five or six wickets instead of three. Dropping a catch or missing run out is part of the game. We are hoping to start well tomorrow (Friday). That's all what we are thinking about right now. Actually, it's a good pitch. If we can bowl them out for around 450, it will be good for us," said Ahmed.
