Ravichandran Ashwin drew first blood, Ravindra Jadeja ripped the heart out while Jasprit Bumrah put the final nail in Bangladesh’s coffin as India routed the visitors by seven wickets in the second Test to complete a record-extending 18th series win at home in Kanpur on Tuesday. It was one of the most exhilarating performance by the Indian team despite losing more than 200 overs of play with two days of complete wash-out. The outright victory consolidated India’s pole position in the ICC World Test Championship Table (WTC) with 74.24 percentage points.
Bangladesh needed a resolute fightback on the final day to salvage a draw but they collapsed to 146 after resuming the day 26 for two. Bumrah (3/17 in 10 overs), Ravichandran Ashwin (3/50 in 15 overs) and Ravindra Jadeja (3/34 in 10 overs) shared bulk of the spoils.
India scored the required 95 runs in 17.2 overs with ‘Player Of The Match’ Yashasvi Jaiswal (51) scoring his second fifty of the match.
For Bangladesh, opener Shadman Islam (50) and former skipper Mushfiqur Rahim (37) were the only batters who offered some resistance while others succumbed to relentless pressure from the home bowlers after a top notch batting performance to make a match of it.
The biggest disappointment was Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto’s reckless reverse sweep off Jadeja that opened the floodgates.
After Ashwin removed first innings centurion Mominul Haque in the firsts few minutes, Jadeja broke the back of Bangladeshi middle-order with his sizzling performance, while Bumrah also contributed to the win with his incisive bowling that resulted in three wickets.
India, who had a 52-run first innings lead, knocked off the required 95 runs in 17.2 overs after losing Rohit Sharma (8) and Shubhman Gill (6) to off-spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz .
Jaiswal and Virat Kohli (29 not out) shared a 58-run stand for the third wicket.
Like the first inninngs, Rohit and Jaiswal went after the Bangladeshi bowlers even as the home skipper departed early when his sweep off Miraz landed straight into the hands of Hasan Mahmud.
Shubman Gill was also trapped by Miraz.
Kohli worked the ball around to go steady, while Jaiswal also batted with maturity to complete his second successive half-century. With just three runs required to complete the win, Jaiswal went after Taijul Islam and ended up giving a catch to Shakib at extra cover.
Rishabh Pant (4) finished the game in style with a boundary off Taijul.
India have not lost a match to Bangladesh in Test cricket and the fact that they won this contest in a mere six sessions after losing two full days to rain, speaks volumes of the gulf between the two teams.
Beginning the decisive day at 26 for two, Bangladesh lost overnight batter and first innings centurion Mominul to Ashwin quickly but Shadman (50 off 101) kept one end tight with his fighting knock that had 10 boundaries.
Shadman raised a 55-run stand with his skipper for the fourth wicket but Shanto (19 off 37) undid the good work with his poor shot selection.
He tried to reverse sweep Jadeja, and missed the line to be bowled. Pacer Akash had Shadman caught in the gully by Jaiswal.
Once Shadman was dismissed, Bangladesh batting fell apart with Jadeja proving to be too hot to handle for the visitors. The left-arm spinner got rid of Shanto, Litton Das (1) and Shakib Al Hasan (0) in a spell that broke the back of Bangladesh middle-order.
Shakib could not even open his account in probably the last innings of his Test career. His half-hearted defensive shot went straight back to Jadeja while Das nicked one behind the wicket.
Bumrah then got rid of Miraz (9) and Taijul Islam (0) to further pile on the Bangladesh misery. He closed the Bangladesh innings by cleaning up Rahim (37).
Shadman negotiated the Indian bowlers with confidence. He swept Ashwin and drove Bumrah with authority but Mominul did not last long.
He swept Ashwin but the ball bounced a tad more with KL Rahul, taking a catch at leg-slip.
Aswhin’s third wicket brought rival skipper Shanto to the crease. Shanto took some time to settle, remaining circumspect for a while.
Shadman though batted solid from his end. His defence was compact against Ashwin and he was not afraid to use his feet against the off-spinner. He rotated the strike and kept finding boundaries to keep the score ticking.
Rohit brought Mohammed Siraj into the attack and he almost had Shanto but the edge from the Bangladesh skipper flew to the boundary through the vacant space between the second and gully.
Shadman handled the Siraj challenge well. He slapped a widish one from him to the fence and also drove through the covers when the pacer pitched full while bowling from around the wicket. He completed his fifty but departed soon after.
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