IND v BAN, One-off Test Day 4 Review: Bangladesh falter as India comes close

Ravichandran Ashwin completed his 250 Test wickets as the dubious scalp was something that would be cherished given the fact that it was Mushfiqur Rahim, the Bangladesh skipper on the day. However, the century as well as the 388 runs and the four wickets that fell ensured that the visitors did indeed get a bit of respect in the manner of their batting. In addition, the fact of the matter was that Mushfiqur Rahim was the one who impressed on the day.

The Bangladeshis were on the backfoot from the outset when Mehedi Hasan Miraz was cleaned up by Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the first over of the day itself. While this was certainly something that would ensure that there was indeed something in it for the pacers, things looked bright for Virat Kohli and his men with the wicket. However, little did they realize that Taijul and Mushfiqur could indeed wield the bat at will.

This ensured that there was indeed something that was adding to the frustrations of one and all in and around the stadium as well. While the frustrations built to exceeding limits, the Bangladesh skipper Rahim reached a well-deserved century. Of course, he had batted out of his skin and was showing one and all what exactly he was capable of. He had been struck on the arm and was bearing the brunt of the Indian pace attack when this issue arose of the likes of Umesh Yadav and others making life difficult for them.

However, despite all of this, the perseverance of the Indian bowlers paid off with Virat Kohli finally taking the executive decision to bring on the spin twins of Jadeja and Ashwin. Initially, it was some feeble bowling from them before the important wicket of Taijul eventually fell. Taskin Ahmed proved that he was one of those with incredible defensive acumen with the bat as he went ahead and showed one and all what he was capable of.

This also ensured that there was further frustrations with the Indians also not getting their way after a few decisions went against them after they used up their two reviews. However, te end was near as the spinner concluded the innings when Mushfiqur Rahim eventually nicked one back to Wriddhiman Saha after attempting to paddle a wide delivery. This nestled into the gloves of Saha who ensured that there was indeed a massive 299-run lead.

This lead became 300 runs when the Indians came out to bat for one solitary over and Vijay took the one run at the stroke of lunch. The capitalization would certainly be something that would come in the break between Lunch and tea. This crucial session would also consist of 29 overs, something that would see Virat Kohli and his men play extremely high risk cricket at the time.

Sure enough, it was the initial dismissals of Rahul and Vijay that saw the plot not according to plan initially. However, when Kohli and Vijay went ahead and began to smash the ball along with Cheteshwar Pujara, it was certainly game on. Kohli and Rahane showed tremendous acumen when it came to awareness to smashing the ball and Bangladesh were in for a very entertaining 29 overs. At the stroke of team, the Indians had a lead of 458, something that was clearly enough to make Bangladesh bat once again on the day.

While 459 is certainly a target that no one likes to chase, the fact of the matter certainly is that losing the early wicket and the big wicket of Tamim Iqbal certainly did not help. However, unlike the run out in the first innings, the second innings was a case of Ravichandran Ashwin doing what he does best when it comes to building momentum.

After a fruitful partnership between Soumya Sarkar and Mominul Haque, it was Ashwin who struck again as Sarkar was denuded a half-century, something that put the visitors in somewhat of a tight spot. However, despite all of this, the fact was that they could still salvage at least a draw at the very least. Ravindra Jadeja was perhaps the one who was the bright spark who ensured that there was another wicket to fall, that of Mominul Haque as the day closed with Shaib and Mahmudullah the ones unbeaten on the evening.

Brief Scores:

India, 1st innings: 687/6 dec.

Bangladesh, 1st innings: 388 all out (Mushfiqur 127; Umesh 3/84)

India, 2nd innings: 159/4 (C Pujara 54*; Taskin 2/43)

Bangladesh, 2nd innings: 103/3 (S Sarkar 42; R Ashwin 2/34)