Rohit and Co squeeze a win out of nowhere
KANPUR: As the proceedings began on Day 5 here at the Green Park Stadium on Tuesday, Kanpur, Rohit and Co executed a simple plan. Operate with a spinner from one end and a pacer from the other. R Ashwin started the bowling with Jasprit Bumrah following up in the next over. At stumps on the penultimate day of the second Test, visiting Bangladesh were 26/2 in 11 overs, still trailing by 26 runs, with Shadman Islam and Mominul Haque at the crease.
India went all out from ball one as the offie from Tamil Nadu came from around the wicket with two slips and a short leg in place. The next over, he removed the slip and deployed one at leg slip. It turned out to be a masterstroke as the previous innings centurion Mominul Haque was caught at the position by KL Rahul.
In his unbeaten knock on Monday, Mominul had swept Indian spinners with great success but it eventually led to his downfall only a few hours later on the last day of the match. The ball pitched outside the leg with Mominul sweeping it only to find a thick upper edge. Rahul, who had dropped Shadman on Monday evening, didn't let it go this time as he completed a sharp catch.
From thereon, skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto and Shadman played cautiously to make sure the team didn't lose any more wickets in the next 13 overs. They also stitched together a 55-run partnership giving visitors a hope for a draw. Despite the barren run, India skipper Rohit Sharma didn't change the strategy as he continued with the original plan of bowling with a spinner and a pacer from the two ends.
The only change he made was introducing Ravindra Jadeja from the pavilion end. Once again, the move paid dividends as Jadeja struck with his second ball. A quick and flat delivery, which Shanto looked to reverse sweep but failed miserably. The wicket triggered the collapse as pacer Akash Deep sent back the half-centurion Shadman the next over and Jadeja claimed two from his next two overs reducing Bangladesh to 94/7 in 31.2 overs. While wicketkeeper-batter Litton Das was undone with some turn and extra bounce, former skipper and star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, probably playing his last Test, spooned a simple return catch from a comparatively slower delivery which sort of stopped forcing the batter to check his shot. The two wickets meant Jadeja had claimed three wickets from his three overs giving away only three runs.
It was only in the 43rd over, 31 overs after the play resumed, Rohit changed the plan and made the tweakers bowl in tandem. Ashwin replaced Bumrah from the media box end with India needing just one wicket to wrap up the Bangladesh innings. But only three overs later, Rohit switched back to the original plan reintroducing Bumrah. The pacer didn't disappoint as he cleaned up experienced Mushfiqur Rahim. Bangladesh all out for 146 in 47 overs.
Bumrah might have walked away with three wickets in the end but it's the duo of Ashwin and Jadeja, who had been instrumental in India's unbeaten run in the longest format on home soil since 2012, who did the deeds. Once again, they played their role to perfection in the ongoing series to keep the record intact. They accounted for 11 wickets in the first match which the hosts won by 280 runs in Chennai. The pair shone again with the ball to fetch the much-needed victory for their team as they claimed nine wickets in the match.
Needing 95 to win the series 2-0, India completed the formalities for the loss of just three wickets with opener Yashasvi Jaiswal slamming second consecutive half-century.
With more than two days of play washed out due to rain and wet outfield, the contest was heading for a draw. India batters first turned the match on its head by playing a T20 style cricket on Monday. The bowler complemented them effectively as they made the light work of Bangladesh in their second innings. The win brightens up India's chances of making it to the World Test Championship final for the third consecutive time. They are leading the WTC chart at the moment and now need to win three matches out of the remaining eight to enter the summit clash. Next up are New Zealand, who are touring India for the three-match series followed by a five-Test series against Australia Down Under.