POST MATCH ANALYSIS
Follow UsTwelve wickets in the day, a Virat Kohli masterclass with the pink ball, Indian pacers relentlessly terrorising the batsmen, Mushfiqur Rahim salvaging some pride. To say that day 2 of the second Test between India and Bangladesh was eventful would be an understatement.
Such is the speed at which the Test is going it would be no surprise that we get a result as early as the first session on Sunday.
At the end of the second day, India firmly had one hand on the cup having picked up six Bangladeshi wickets with the visitors still needing to score 89 runs more to make the hosts bat again.
The day started with Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane on the charge. Boundaries flowed from the outset with none of the Bangladesh bowlers getting spared. Kohli, in particular, looked like he was set for a big one. The cover drives were on point, the straight drives silken, so much so that Ebadot Hossain applauded on of the shots.
Rahane too looked in good touch as he reached his fourth consecutive score of 50 or more. However, he could not carry for much longer after falling to Taijul Islam for 51. But Kohli, who had become the first Indian skipper to go past the 5000-run mark in the longest format, grew from strength to strength en route to his 70th International hundred.
Kohli hit top gear after his hundred, smashing Bangladeshi pacer Abu Jayed for four successive boundaries. His knock, 136 off 194 balls, ended when Taijul threw himself to his right to pluck a catch out of thin air.
With this century, Kohli equalled Ricky Ponting’s record of most hundreds - 41 - as captain in international cricket. The India skipper took exactly half the innings (188) than the Aussie great for the world record.
The new ball brought a fresh lease of life for the Bangladesh bowlers. They picked up wickets regularly troubling the Indian batsmen with swing. India declared their innings for 347 for nine to take a healthy lead of 241 runs. Al-Amin Hossain and Ebadot both took three wickets each while Jayed returned two wickets.
The Indian seamers then came out in all gusto in the second essay. Ishant Sharma first trapped opener Shadman Islam for a duck before getting rid of Mominul Haque for a duck to leave Bangladesh reeling on 7/2.
Such was the terror of Indian pacers that Mohammed Mithun became the third Bangladeshi player to be hit on his head when he failed to duck an Ishant bouncer.
Already two of their batsmen (Liton Das and Nayeem Hasan) were hit by Mohammed Shami bouncers in the first innings and were replaced according to the concussion protocol.
The last session too did not give Bangladesh any respite. Mithun fell miscuing a bouncer from Umesh Yadav while Imrul Kayes edged Ishant to Kohli at slips. At 13/4, it seemed the Test was headed towards a two-day finish but Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur decided to show some fight.
The duo laid out the perfect counter-attack making use of all the gaps laid out to them. Both took the Indian bowlers to the attack getting boundaries almost every over. They stitched a 69-run stand for the fifth wicket before Mahmudullah was forced to retire hurt after pulling his hamstring. He had scored 39 off 41 fours with seven fours to his name.
Mushfiqur smashed 10 fours in his knock as the visitors looked relieved when the Indian pacers struggled to handle heavy dew towards the end. They still trail by 89 runs and need a miracle to save the match.
On 59, Mushfiqur successfully reviewed an lbw decision given by Marais Erasmus as the ball deflected from his glove before hitting the pad in the fag end of the day.
Ishant, who took a five-for in the first innings, added four more wickets to his kitty be one wicket away from his second 10-wicket haul in a Test match.
Umesh dismissed Taijul Islam (11) with a short ball in the last over of the day. Bangladesh finished the day on 152/6 and India will be looking to wrap up proceedings early on day 3.
