India beat Bangladesh by three wickets in the second and final Test of the two-match series on Sunday (December 25). India chased down the target of 145 runs in 47 overs for the loss of seven wickets. For India, Ravichandran Ashwin top-scored in the second innings. He remained not out on 42 runs from 62 balls. The 36-year-old cricketer came out to bat at No. 9 when India was struggling at 74 for 7 and added an unbeaten 71 runs with Shreyas Iyer (29 not out) to help India successfully reach the target.
For his spectacular innings under pressure, Ashwin, who is the second-most successful bowler for India in Test cricket, bagged the Player of the Match award. He remained calm under pressure and scored a total of 16 runs in the 47th over of the run chase to seal the deal for India.
After India secured a hard-fought win in the second Test, many fans and former greats took to Twitter to congratulate the Indian team on the win. And in between all those congratulatory messages, Indian politician Shashi Tharoor also took to Twitter to congratulate the Indian team. But in his tweet, he also took a cheeky dig at the Indian team management.
The Indian National Congress leader, who has more than 8.4 million followers on the microblogging site, wrote, “What a nail-biter of a Test match india just managed to win! Despite a long injury list & selectoral caprice, @ashwinravi99 did so brilliantly that my only worry is that he might now be left out of the next match…! #INDvBAN
His reference to Ashwin came at a time when, after delivering a match-winning performance in the series opener, India shockingly dropped Kuldeep Yadav for the second game. The Indian team management’s decision to drop Kuldeep was heavily criticised by many fans and former greats, including Sunil Gavaskar.
India will next play a Test match against Australia in February next year. It will be the first time in six years when India will host the Baggy Greens in a red-ball series.
