Axar Patel made life miserable for Bangladesh batters as India closed in on a probable third-day finish, reducing the hosts to 195/7 at tea on day three of the second Test in Mirpur, Dhaka on Saturday.
Litton Das (58 not out) celebrated his maiden IPL contract with KKR with an aggressive half-century.
Bangladesh went into the tea break with an overall lead of 108 runs but India look set for a series clean sweep if they can quickly pick up the remaining three wickets in the final session.
IMAGE: India’s players celebrate after Umesh Yadav dismissed Bangladesh opener Zakir Hasan. Photograph: BCCI/Twitter
With the pitch offering both turn and bounce with the odd ball holding up, Axar (3/58 in 19 overs) became a nightmare for the batters as they had no clue if the ball would turn, jump up or come in with an angle.
Axar had Mushfiqur Rahim (9) playing for a straighter one and in turn, being fooled by the inward angle.
On the other hand, Nurul Hasan (31 off 29 balls), who played a breezy counter-attack inning, was beaten by flight and then by the classical outward turn off Axar’s delivery as Rishabh Pant effected a smart stumping.
IMAGE: India’s players celebrate after Ravichandran Ashwin took the wicket of Najmul Shanto. Photograph: BCCI/Twitter
Ravichandran Ashwin (1/60 in 20 overs ), Jaydev Unadkat (1/17 in 9 overs), Mohammed Siraj (1/21 in 6 overs) and Umesh Yadav (1/32 in 9 overs) were also among wickets despite Bangladesh batters playing positively during the second session where they scored over 100 runs.
The depth of Indian bowling was too much for Bangladesh to handle as their opener and best batter of the series Zakir Hasan (51 off 135 balls) fought well till lunch but then lost concentration to slash Umesh hard only to find Siraj at deep third man.
IMAGE: Jaydev Unadkat celebrates with his team-mates after taking the wicket of Shakib Al Hasan. Photograph: BCCI/Twitter
In the morning session, India picked up four wickets to set the tone of the proceedings.
Najmul Hossain Shanto (5) was trapped leg before wicket by Ashwin as he played for the turn but the ball skidded straight on. Ashwin bowled a long spell from one end, as he tested the Bangladesh top order with some probing lengths before he bagged the first breakthrough of the day.
Mominul Haque (5) poked away from his body to a length ball from Siraj and was caught behind by wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.
Shakib Al Hasan perished for 13 when he drove pacer Jaydev Unadkat straight to the fielder in the covers and Axar sent back Mushfiqur Rahim, who was done in by the arm ball, and was trapped leg before wicket.
Source : Rediff