Team India survived a huge scare on Sunday (December 25) morning in the second Test against Bangladesh as they prevailed in a thriller in Mirpur to win by three wickets. The visitors were down and out at 74/7 as off-spinner Mehidy Hasan with a five-wicket haul ran riot before the pair of Shreyas Iyer and Ravichandran Ashwin took over and didn’t let Bangladesh come into the game after that. The duo stitched an unbeaten partnership of 71 runs to help India end 2022 on a high and gave the entire nation a Christmas gift. By the virtue of this win, the KL Rahul-led side sealed the series 2-0 and kept their hopes of qualifying for the World Test Championship (WTC) final alive.
Iyer has looked like the most comfortable batter for India against spin and he continued his miraculous run in the series. Even though his 87-run knock in the first innings will be talked about more, his unbeaten effort of 29 in the second innings will be the one to be remembered for his life given how desperate the situation the Indian team found itself in, losing three wickets cheaply.
Ashwin ended up being the highest scorer for the visitors in the second innings as once the pair stemmed the wicket flow, both found their groove and kept smashing the Bangladesh bowlers to finish the match in the first session itself. It was a relief for both the head coach Rahul Dravid and stand-in captain KL Rahul as the Indian team kept its unbeaten record against Bangladesh in Test matches intact.
It hasn’t been an easy series for India like many expected it to be as Bangladesh fought very hard and almost caused an upset in Mirpur if not for a damage control act by Iyer and Ashwin.
It was the Indian bowlers, who took 20 wickets for not many to ensure that the batters didn’t need much on the deteriorating surface at Sher-E-Bangla National Stadium, where the ball was gripping, turning, staying low and doing all sorts of stuff. Ashwin and Umesh Yadav were the stars with the ball on Day 1 when Mominul Haque with an innings of 84 threatened to help his side put on a big first-innings score.
The top-order failed again for India, which is a big concern given they have to play the Australian team, the table-toppers in a four-match series in February-March. However, India’s highest-ranked Test batter Rishabh Pant rose to the occasion alongside Iyer as the duo put on 159 runs for the fifth wicket. Both fell agonisingly short of their respective centuries but India got a crucial 87-run lead, which eventually proved to be vital given they had to bat last.
The Indian bowlers were up to the task yet again in the second innings but Litton Das with a gritty knock of 73 helped Bangladesh get a 144-run lead. Even though it was a chaseable score, it wasn’t going to be easy for the visitors, given the nature of the surface as it turned out.
The Indian top-order failed once again as the visitors were reduced to 37/4 before Axar Patel led the repair work, followed by Iyer and Ashwin. India with the win solidified their position at the second spot in the WTC points table and now have a PCT (points percentage) of 58.9.
