Kanpur. After destroying Bangladesh’s innings with the brilliant performance of the bowlers led by Ravindra Jadeja, India won by seven wickets on the fifth and final day of the second cricket test and whitewashed the visiting team 2-0 in the two-match series. Further strengthened its position at the top of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) table. India improved its own record by winning its 18th consecutive Test series at home.
With this win, India, who are at the top of the WTC table, have 98 points from 11 matches with eight wins, two losses and one draw, which is 74.24 percent points. Australia is in second place after scoring 62.50 percent points from 90 matches with eight wins, three losses and one draw.
Chasing Bangladesh’s target of 95 runs, India made a 58-run partnership for the third wicket between Yashasvi Jaiswal (51 runs, 45 balls, eight fours, one six) and Virat Kohli (29 not out, 37 balls, four fours). Thanks to this, they registered an easy victory by scoring 98 runs for three wickets in 17.2 overs. India had lost the wickets of captain Rohit Sharma (08) and Shubhman Gill (06) early.
Earlier, for India, Jadeja (three wickets for 34 runs), Jasprit Bumrah (three wickets for 17 runs) and Ravichandran Ashwin (three wickets for 50 runs) took three wickets each, while Akash Deep (one wicket for 20 runs) took three wickets each. One wicket was taken due to which Bangladesh team was reduced to just 146 runs in 47 overs in the second innings.
For Bangladesh, opener Shadman Islam scored the highest 50 runs in the second innings. Apart from him, only Mashfiqur Rahim (37) was able to bat steadily. Ashwin was adjudged the best player of the series for taking 11 wickets and scoring 114 runs. By winning this award for the 11th time, he equaled the world record of the great Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.
In response to Bangladesh’s 233 runs in the first innings, India declared the innings at 285 runs for nine wickets and took a lead of 52 runs on the basis of first innings. India adopted an aggressive approach to get the result after two days of play were washed out due to rain, due to which despite having a good pitch for batting, the result of the match was declared in just 173.2 overs which is less than two days of play.
Due to rain and wet ground, not a single ball could be bowled on the second and third days, whereas on the first day also only 35 overs could be played. India did not have a good start while chasing the target. Bangladesh did not use fast bowlers in India’s second innings. The spin pair of Mehdi Hasan Miraj (2 wickets for 44 runs) and Shakib Al Hasan started the bowling.
Rohit hit a four in the first over of Mirage but in the next over of this off-spinner, while trying to play a sweep shot, he got caught by Hasan Mahmood at the boundary. Jaiswal hit two fours on Shakib but Gill was trapped LBW on Miraj’s fast spinning ball. Jaiswal hit two consecutive fours on Miraj while Kohli sent Shakib’s ball to the boundary. Kohli completed half-century of India’s runs in the seventh over with a four on Mirage.
On the personal score of 14 runs, Kohli was given out LBW by on-field umpire Richard Cattlebro on Miraj’s ball, but after taking DRS, the umpire had to change his decision. In the 14th over of the innings, Kohli hit two fours on Taijul Islam (one wicket for 36 runs) while Jaiswal hit a six over long on. Jaiswal completed his second half-century of the match in 43 balls with one run off left-arm spinner Taijul.
When India needed three runs to win, Jaiswal gave an easy catch to Shakib while trying to play a big shot on Taijul. Rishabh Pant (04 not out) ensured India’s victory with a four off Taijul. Earlier, Bangladesh started the day with 26 runs for two wickets. Ashwin gave India its first success of the day by getting Mominul Haq (02), who scored a century in the first innings, caught by Lokesh Rahul in the leg slip.
Opener Shadman Islam (50 runs on 101 balls, 10 fours) took over the innings with captain Nazmul Hussain Shanto (19) by making a partnership of 55 runs for the fourth wicket. This partnership was broken due to Shanto’s poor shot selection, after which India took wickets at regular intervals. While trying to reverse sweep Jadeja’s ball, Shanto missed completely and was bowled.
Fast bowler Akash gave a big blow to Bangladesh by getting Shadman caught in the slips by Yashasvi Jaiswal. After this, left arm spinner Jadeja got Liton Das (01) caught by wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant and then broke the back of Bangladesh’s middle order by taking the catch of Shakib Al Hasan on his own ball. Shakib could not even open his account in probably the last innings of his Test career. After this, Bumrah increased the problems of Bangladesh by dismissing Mehdi Hasan Miraj (09) and Taijul Islam (00). He ended Bangladesh’s innings by bowling Mushfiqur Rahim (37).