By India Blooms News Service Dec 24, 2022
Dhaka: The second Test against Bangladesh hangs on knife edge as India need 100 runs with six wickets in hand at stumps on Day 3 here on Saturday.
India were 45/3 at stumps with Axar Patel and Jaydev Unadkat batting on 26 and 3 not out, respectively.
It has been a see-saw day of Test match cricket. For the first two days, India looked to gain the upper hand.
At one stage Bangladesh were leading by just 26 runs with six of their batsmen were back to the hut, but the stout hosts did not give up and gave a fight.
Nurul Hasan (31) launched a counter punch which emboldened Litton Das (73), and later Taskin Ahmed (31) who led the fight at the tail end to bloat the lead to 144 runs.
It is clearly not an intimidating target, but the pitch was landing deadly punches on Indian top order as Bangladesh bowlers revelled to glory.
Shakib Al Hasan led from the front, removing his opposite number very early before Mehidys triple strike got rid of Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli to wreck havoc. India were absolutely rattled with the score reading 37/4.
Amidst the ruins, Axar (3/68), who was promoted, did his job but this game is still wide open.
Earlier, it was a fantastic pre-lunch session for India as they managed to take four wickets in a couple of hours.
Ravichandran Ashwin (2/66) struck early in the day as he trapped Najmul Hossain Shanto LBW, while Mohammad Siraj removed Mominul Haque soon after.
Shakib and Zakir Hasan had a handy partnership, but Unadkat came into the attack and got rid of the Bangladesh captain.
Mushfiqur Rahim looked positive till the time he was at the crease, however, Axar got rid of him an over before the lunch break.
Ashwin, Axar, Unadkat and Siraj - all bagged a wicket each in the session.
Runs were hard to come by, and the Indian bowlers tried to maintain pressure in the post-lunch session.
It was an onus on Zakir to stick around for a longer duration and take Bangladesh to a healthy lead.
In the middle session, 27 overs were bowled and 124 runs made by losing three wickets.
Zakir, who compiled a hard-fought fifty, perished playing a loose shot.
Mehidy, who was promoted, was trapped lbw by Axarfor a duck.
Bangladesh were effectively 26/5 and were staring down the barrel. Thats when Nurul Hasan came out with a positive intent going after the Indian bowlers.
Litton followed the same approach as the duo stitched a 46-run stand. Axar managed to remove the dangerous Nurul and he should have had Litton too, but Kohli dropped him twice at first slip - on 20 and 49.
Litton notched up a fifty and Bangladeshs lead was over 100.
Brief scores:India 314 45/4 (Mehidy Hasan Miraz 3-12, Shakib Al Hasan 1-21) need another 100 runs vs Bangladesh 227 231 (Litton Das 73, Zakir Hasan 51; Axar Patel 3-68)