Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim and off-spinner Mehedi Hasan’s gritty stand frustrated the Indian bowlers in the final session yesterday. But that wasn’t the case today. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar dismissed Hasan in the very first over and the rest of the tail didn’t offer much resistance as Bangladesh were bundled out for 388 just before lunch.
Without any doubt, India wanted to pile up as many runs as possible in only one session of Day 4. They did exactly what they set out to achieve courtesy the Indian middle order. Virat Kohli started playing his shots on the go and Cheteshwar Pujara raced to fifty with diligent strokes before India declared after setting a target of 459 for Bangladesh to chase in 4 remaining sessions.
Bangladesh ended the fourth day of the Test match on 103 for 3. Ashwin and Jadeja were amongst the wickets. India are in strong position to win the game from here. They need just 7 wickets tomorrow. However, Bangladesh will have their task cut out tomorrow on a wicket which will assist the Indian spinners.
Brief Scores: India 687/6d & 159/4d vs Bangladesh 388 & 103/3 in 35 overs at Stumps, Day 4; Bangladesh need 356 runs to win with 7 wickets remaining.
#5 Mushfiqur Rahim slams another century under pressure
Mushfiqur Rahim will remember his time in New Zeland for two reasons. The first one is because he scored 159 in the first innings of the Test match and the second is for taking a blow to his head off Tim Southee’s bowling in second innings. Now against India, he continued his form with the bat by scoring another hundred. He brought up his 5th Test ton in 235 balls which included 13 fours and a six.
When Rahim walked into bat yesterday, Bangladesh had lost 4 wickets for just 109 runs and looked set to get dismissed for a cheap score. Rahim and all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan then built a solid partnership. The duo who were involved in a 359-run partnership against New Zealand put on 107 runs for the fifth wicket.
In the last session yesterday, Rahim along with Hasan ensured they did not lose any wicket. In the first session today, after Hasan was dismissed early, Rahim took the initiative to anchor the innings and scored a watchful century before his dismissal brought the Bangla innings to a close.
#4 KL Rahul’s poor form continues
KL Rahul had a year to remember in 2016. He became the first man to score hundreds in all formats of the game with a six. However, barring his 71 against England in the T20I, he has failed miserably to continue the same form in 2017.
In the on-going Test against Bangladesh, all the Indian batsmen thrived on a pitch that was meant for batting except Rahul. The Karnataka batsman chased a ball pitched fuller outside off stump only to drag it back on to his stumps. Surely, he will be ruing that mistake because he attempted it in the very first over of the innings.
However, the circumstances were completely different in the second innings. India batted just one session to set a formidable target for Bangladesh. He failed again after edging one to the keeper. Rahul now has embarrassing figures from the one-off Test with just 2 & 10. It will be interesting to see how long Kohli persists with the highly talented yet underperforming Rahul.
#3 Cheteshwar Pujara’s swift fifty
For India to have a chance to win the game, the bowlers required a minimum of four sessions to get rid of the Bangladesh batsmen. For the batsmen, it meant that India would bat for only one session in their second innings and had to make the most of it.
After the openers departed, pressure was on Pujara and Kohli to churn out quick runs and Pujara did an outstanding job. The No.3 batsman defended solidly and pounced on the loose balls. He brought up his fifty in just 58 deliveries. It included six elegant fours and one perfectly timed six.
Throughout his knock, Pujara was calm and composed as always and drove the ball along the ground to play risk-free cricket. He was unlucky to be dismissed in the 80s in the first innings. With the knock he played today, he showcased his ability to score quickly when the team was in need of it.
#2 India’s flip side with the DRS
India embraced the idea of Decision Review System only in their recent Test series against England. Captain Virat Kohli is also using it wisely after a few initial hiccups. But Day 4 of the Test match did not go well for the Indians with the DRS. Out of four reviews made by India, only one of them turned out to be a successful one.
India reviewed first for LBW of Taijul Islam but the decision wasn’t reversed as the ball struck him down the line. India wasted another review after few overs for the same but this time the batsmen was Rahim, and the decision was not overturned again.
However, in Bangladesh's second innings, India got their first successful review of the day with reversal of umpire’s decision. Opener Tamim Iqbal was ruled not out by the umpire but the visuals showed a big inside-edge onto the pad which was caught by Kohli.
The last one was quite poor though. India challenged the umpire for a caught behind after Kohli trusted his slip fielder Ajinkya Rahane but the replays showed a lot of space between bat and ball.
#5 Ashwin fastest bowler to 250 Test wickets
Ravichandran Ashwin is now officially the fastest bowler to reach 250 Test wickets. He achieved the feat in just his 45th Test match for India. The TN bowler's 250th scalp was Bangladesh’s centurion Mushfiqur Rahim.
After toiling hard for almost the whole of first innings, Ashwin was rewarded at the end of it. He now has 252 Test wickets after he bagged two more in Bangladesh’s second innings.
India consolidated their superior position in the match by reducing Bangladesh to 103/3 at the end of Day 4. The ball is spinning well off the pitch and the awkward bounce in the wicket will definitely help Ashwin on the last day of the Test match.
Ashwin now looks to be in good flow which he lacked in the first innings. He will definitely add to his wickets to his tally on the fifth and final day of the one-off Test match.
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