Kanpur, Oct 1: Ravindra Jadeja hastened Bangladesh’s collapse with a sizzling three-wicket haul as India closed in on victory in the second Test by wrapping up the visitors’ second innings for 146 at lunch on day 5, here on Tuesday.
India, who had a 52-run first-innings lead, need to knock off the required 95 runs in the remaining two sessions to inflict a whitewash on the visitors.
A victory, which looks imminent barring weather playing spoilsport, will consolidate India’s pole position in the ICC World Test Championship Table (WTC).
Jadeja (3/34), Jasprit Bumrah (3/17) and Ravichandran Ashwin (3/50) shared nine wickets among themselves, while Akash Deep (1/20) accounted for one batter.
Beginning the decisive day at 26 for two, Bangladesh lost overnight batter and first-innings centurion Mominul Hasque (2) to Ashwin quickly but Shadman Islam (50 off 101) kept the other end secure with his fighting knock studded with 10 boundaries.
Shadman (50) 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 completely to be bowled.
Pacer Akash then had Shadman caught in the slips.
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 the Bangladesh middle order.
Shakib could not even open his account in probably the last innings of his Test career, with his half-hearted defensive shot going straight back to Jadeja while Das nicked one behind the wicket.
Bumrah then got rid of Mehidy Hazan Miraz (9) and Taijul Islam (0) to further pile on Bangladesh’s misery. He closed the Bangladesh innings by cleaning up Mushfiqur Rahim (37), who was the only batter apart from Shadman to offer some resistance.
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 could not connect well and the resultant edge went straight to KL Rahul stationed at the 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 scoreboard 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 slip and gully.
Shadman handled the Siraj challenge well. He slapped a widish one from the India pacer to the fence and also drove through the covers when the quick pitched full while bowling from around the wicket. He completed his fifty but departed soon after. (PTI)
