India was saved by a tenacious 71-run stand between Shreyas Iyer and Ravichandran Ashwin as the tourists battled back from a hopeless situation to pull off a three-wicket win against Bangladesh in the second and final Test and won the series 2-0 here on Sunday. The match took place in this city.
Before Iyer (29 not out off 46) and Aswhin (42 not out off 62) denied them with an unbeaten 71-run stand off 105 balls, Bangladesh were on track for their first ever Test win against their formidable neighbours India when India was at 74 for seven chasing 145. Bangladesh were on course for their first ever Test win against India.
Although off-spinner Mehidy Hazan Miraz (5/63) performed his best and ended up with five wickets, it was not enough to win the match for his team.
India sealed their victory in the series with a come-from-behind victory, bringing their record to 2-0, which strengthens their hopes of making it to the finals of the World Test Championship for a second consecutive year.
After the first ball was bowled on Sunday, the spinners for Bangladesh were all over the Indian team. In the second over of the day, India lost Jaydev Unadkat (13) with the score at 45 for four when they resumed their innings.
After slog sweeping Miraz for a six, Unadkat was bowled by a slider from Shakib Al Hasan and caught right in front of the stumps. Unadkat was so desperate that he agreed to take the review, but he ended up blowing the opportunity.
Rishabh Pant, India’s go-to guy in a crisis situation, walked towards the middle of the field and attempted to put pressure back on the other team by using a counterattacking strategy.
The southpaw’s 93 had altered the trajectory of the first inning, but he was out for nine this time after Miraz trapped him leg before the wicket.
When Miraz took the fifth wicket of a well-set Axar Patel (34), the score was brought up to 74 for seven. Again, it was the one that was more vertical that slammed into his pads just before it clipped the leg stump.
Before Iyer and Ashwin provided a glimmer of hope with their dogged stand, India was on the verge of suffering their first loss of the series against Bangladesh.
Before Iyer turned the momentum with back-to-back boundaries off Shakib in the 41st over, the partnership was content to keep their wicket intact for the first few overs of the game.
In the over that followed, Miraz provided a loose delivery, and Iyer was quick to find room and punch the ball through cover for another boundary.
In a desperate attempt to break the standoff, Bangladesh resorted to speed, but their strategy was unsuccessful. After being dropped at short leg on the first ball of the game, Ashwin proceeded to collect a pair of boundaries off of right-arm seamer Khaled Ahmed, bringing the goal down to just 26 runs.
Miraz was brought into the assault as a last ditch effort, but Aswhin hit him for a six followed by back-to-back boundaries, securing the victory for the away team.
In spite of the victory, India still has a lot of work to do in terms of strategy before their home series against Australia. There is significant cause for concern over the form of the top-order.
The fact that India decided not to play Kuldeep Yadav after he had taken five wickets in the previous game became another major talking topic during the match.