Finance
Umesh Yadav and Ravichandran Ashwin each took four wickets on day one of the second Test against Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
When forced to bowl first, India took advantage of the conditions and pitch’s seam movement, turn, and extra bounce to bowl out Bangladesh for 227 in 73.5 overs, losing the last five wickets for 14 runs. A returning Mominul Haque was the lone ranger for the hosts, with a stroke-filled and calm 84.
Except for Mominul, none of the Bangladesh batters were able to convert their starts into big scores. They had five partnerships in the double digits, but none of them had reached the half-century mark.
Captain KL Rahul and Shubman Gill held their nerve near the end of the first day to be not out on three and 14, respectively, taking India to 19/0 in eight overs, trailing Bangladesh by 208 runs.
Apart from Umesh and Ashwin, Jaydev Unadkat took two wickets and impressed with his accuracy and ability to extract extra bounce on his return to Test cricket after a 12-year absence, especially after replacing Kuldeep Yadav, who was named player of the match in India’s 188-run victory at Chattogram.
When India batted, Taskin Ahmed found some pace and seam movement to challenge Rahul and Gill. Gill struggled early on, getting lucky on edges, particularly the one going past the stumps.
Despite hitting a six over Shakib Al Hasan’s head, Gill had his share of problems when the left-arm spinner was on and was able to fool Rahul as well. Taskin beat Indian captain Rahul on defense and survived a lbw decision via DRS.
Shakib rapped him on the pads in the next over, but he survived because replays showed the ball would miss leg-stump. The day would come to an end four balls later, in India’s favor.
India gave Zakir Hasan a reprieve in the morning when Mohammed Siraj dropped a diving catch at fine-leg off Umesh. Siraj and Umesh were getting some lateral movement and were constantly beating the edge of Zakir and Najmul Hossain Shanto, even squaring them up on a few occasions.
Because of Siraj and Umesh’s ball talk, Zakir and Shanto got some streaky boundaries, flying off the outside edge between slip and gully. Unadkat increased the bounce of the ball, hit the batters on the gloves a few times, and got the ball to come in from outside off stump.
India’s perseverance paid off when Unadkat’s short-length ball and seaming in had extra bounce and took Zakir’s glove edge to fourth slip, giving the left-arm pacer his first Test wicket.
In the next over, Shanto gave no shot to Ashwin’s full delivery, which came back in to trap the opener lbw. Mominul, who had returned to the Bangladesh squad, brought out the drive and flick against overpitched deliveries.
Shakib used his feet well to loft Ashwin over extra cover for four, followed by a six over deep midwicket. Before the session ended, he survived a stumping chance down leg off Ashwin. Following lunch, India had immediate success as Shakib hit a straight hit to mid-off off Umesh.
India managed to keep Mominul and Mushfiqur Rahim quiet until the latter smacked Ashwin for a hat-trick of boundaries through cover, mid-on, and point. Mominul got in on the act, flicking Unadkat twice through mid-wicket for consecutive boundaries.
Rahim greeted Axar Patel with a sweep through the short fine leg before departing for 26 immediately following the drinks break. Unadkat’s ball held its line from short of good length and got to come in with the angle, taking the edge on a forced poke behind to keeper.
Mominul increased his risk-taking by fiercely cutting Unadkat over the slip cordon and getting his fifty-two balls later with another slash through backward point. Das started with a punch and knocked Siraj down for four and six before cutting Axar for a boundary.
His promising stay came to an end when Ashwin misled him on flight and hit a short mid-wicket to perfection. As the session came to a close, Mehidy and Mominul each received another boundary, while India burned another review.
Mehidy hit a couple of boundaries in the final session before nicking behind to Pant off Umesh. When he got one to come in and trap Nurul Hasan lbw, the pacer had another wicket in quick succession. Umesh had just taken his fourth wicket when Taskin Ahmed went for a drive and leading edge was snapped by point.
Mominul was chasing a wide carrom ball outside the off-stump when Ashwin came in. However, the ball sneaked in and brushed his glove as he attempted to leave late, and Pant caught it. A ball later, Khaled Ahmed hit a full toss straight to deep midwicket, giving Ashwin his fourth wicket.
Brief Scores: Bangladesh 227 all out in 73.5 overs (Mominul Haque 84, Mushfiqur Rahim 26; Umesh Yadav 4/25, Ravichandran Ashwin 4/71) lead India 19/0 in eight overs by 208 runs.
Source:SD
