It's stumps. The bowling continues to be plundered, but India falls short of reaching 500. Jadeja collects two fours off the 114th over bowled by Abu Jayed. He punches a delivery off the backfoot for a four through the off side, and later plays a pull and gets a top edge, with the ball going behind the wicketkeeper and racing away to the boundary. The final score, at stumps: 493/6 in 114 overs .
It's been a one-sided contest on Day Two. Particularly, it is Mayank Agarwal's day. He toyed with Bangladesh's bowling, and exploded after getting to a double-century. Ajinkya Rahane missed out on a century, and Cheteshwar Pujara and later, Ravindra Jadeja, hit half-centuries, too.
That ends our coverage of the second day of the Test. Join us tomorrow, at 9.30 am. Until then, it's goodbye.
482/6, 113 overs Umesh continues merrily on. First, goes deep in his crease to slog a length ball over the deep midwicket boundary for a six. Then, he plays a fierce hook off a short delivery that goes all the way for six! There was a man at fine leg but he is just a spectator. Meanwhile, Jadeja takes a single to get to his half-century.
467/6, 112 overs A lot of smiles in the dressing room. They're enjoying themselves. Umesh Yadav is busy playing agricultural hoicks to maximise run-making. Off the second delivery he faces, he plays an extraordinary flick to fine leg that goes all the way for a six! He then pulls mightily for a couple, and then swipes across the line to collect a four. The bowler — Abu Jayed. The declaration should not be far behind.
454/6, 111 oversSaha departs. He plays all around a straight delivery — pitched on a good length — from Ebadat. It's Ebadat's first wicket, after a long toil. Saha tried to turn the delivery to leg but missed it, and it crashed into middle stump, which went cartwheeling. Ebadat makes a salute.
Saha is out for 12 (11b, 4x2).
451/5, 110 overs Saha takes no time to declare his intention. He hits a sweep to collect the first boundary of his innings and then dabs a delivery to third man for another. The bowler - Mehidy Hasan. Earlier in the over, Jadeja played yet another slog for six to deep midwicket. It's raining runs.
434/5, 108 overs Agarwal perishes going for the big hit. He tries to sweep Mehidy and is caught by Jayed at the deep midwicket boundary. It ends a magnificent, attacking innings.
414/4, 106 overs Mahmudullah is collared for more. Jadeja hits a paddle-sweep to get a boundary before Agarwal comes down the track once again and hits a flat six, straight down the ground.
403/4, 105 overs Jadeja joins the party, and takes India past 400 with a slog to leg for six. It was cleanly hit, and Jadeja took a good look at the trajectory of the ball after completing his stroke. Taijul was the bowler.
Meanwhile, Agarwal has raced to 230, hitting Mahmudullah for two fours through the off-side, both off drives.
383/4, 103 overs Agarwal is dealing in fours and sixes now. He collects a four off Ebadat via a pull shot, and off Taijul Islam, the left-arm spinner, skips down the track and hits a flat six to long-on. He's already moved on to 217.
365/4, 99 overs Agarwal does a Virender Sehwag, hits a mighty six to get to his double-hundred! He skips down the track to Mehidy Hasan and slogs him to deep midwicket. It's his second double-century in Test cricket, a month after his first. He lifts his arms to much cheer from the crowd and the dressing room.
359/4, 98 overs Edbadot replaces Jayed, and Agarwal greets him with a fierce late cut that races to the third-man boundary. The delivery was a little too short and wide for Agarwal. Ebadot bowls a much tighter length and line and Agarwal makes a leave at the last moment. Later in the over, Agarwal pulls a short delivery from outside off to deep midwicket for a couple, before ending the over with a single.
350/4, 96 overs Jayed continues to bowl back of a length, but throws in a wayward, slower delivery as well. Switching to around the wicket for the final delivery of the over, he bowls a short delivery that is pulled stylishly by Agarwal for a single. Two more singles had been taken from the over.
346/4, 95 overs Mayank Agarwal moves to 184 with a fierce, stylish pull to fine leg off Mehidy Hasan, the off-spinner. It was a short delivery on the leg side and Agarwal positioned himself well to make the stroke.
339/4, 94 overs Abu Jayed bowls back-of-a-length to Ravindra Jadeja for the entire 94th over. After five dot balls, Jadeja finally tucks one to the leg side to take a couple.
309/4, 85.4 overs Bangladesh gets that much needed breakthrough. The 190-run stand is broken as Rahane departs . He went for the cut and Taijul Islam and deep point takes a good catch. India's fourth wicket falls, all of them falling to Abu Jayed. At No. 6 is Ravindra Jadeja, not Saha as exected.
We are back for the post-tea session . Bangladesh needs wickets desperately.
Tea break on day 2 and India leads by 154 runs. Mayank (156*) and Rahane (83*) have been a joy to watch as they slowly build India's innings following the loss of Pujara and Kohli early in the day. The second session has well and truly been the host's with 115 runs being added in 30 overs.
294/3, 86 overs Bangladesh has taken a new ball while Mayan gets some attention from the physion once again. Abu Jayed, who took all three wickets, returns to the attack.
273/3, 75.4 overs Five balls later, Mayank goes bigger! Finds the second tier for another maximum. Skips down the wicket and smacks it over long-on. That's the 150-run stand for the pair and India leads by 123 runs.
266/3, 74.5 overs If anyone had doubts about Mayank's fitness following that physio check, he just answered it with an exquisite six. Charges down and lifts it over cover. Made it look so easy. Artful.
Yikes. Mayank is down on the ground and the physio is working on him. A few stretches and he is back on his feet. The crowd cheer as he puts his helmet back on. Looks good to carry on!
250/3, 71 overs Mayank comes down the track and smashes it to long-on to find the ropes. And with that, he brings up India's 250 for India and the lead is now exactly 100 runs.
Drinks break and India is ahead by 85 runs . A century stand between Mayank (118*) and Rahane (53*) and Bangladesh bowlers have struggled since taking two quick wickets at the start of the day's play.
228/3, 65.3 overs Picks up a single off Abu Jayed and Rahane completes his 21st half century .
222/3, 65 overs Agarwal finds the boundary with a beautiful late cut and he brings up the 100 run partnership between the pair. The host now leads by 72 runs.
212/3, 62 overs India is 62 overs into its first innings and is 62 runs ahead of Bangladesh. Mayank looks settled and Rahane is six away from his half century. The visitor desperately needs a wicket to break the momentum but who will make the breakthrough is anyone's guess. Its bowlers haven't been able get use the pitch as much as the Indian bowlers did on day one.
206/3, 59.3 overs Flicks the ball to deep midwicket and Mayank gets his century! That's his third century in eight Tests. He raises his bat even before he completed the second run. It is also the ninth time (in ten Tests), an Indian batsman has registered a three-figure score against Bangladesh.
On this day Three decades ago, a 16-year-old Sachin Tendulkar made his Test debut in Pakistan. The rest, as they say, is history.
Tendulkar has broken nearly every batting record that matters and the story of his illustrous career gains some more sheen when his debut is taken into context .
(The same match also saw Waqar Younis make his debut.)
203/3, 59.1 overs Ebadat Hossain pitches the ball just outside off and Mayank drives it past the bowler to get get a boundary and reach 99.
192/3, 55 overs The intent from both side is laid out in the first over. The pitch is showing some turn and Mehidy Hasan Miraz, unsurprisingly, gets the post-lunch session started. Mayank patiently defends five balls before fidning the boundary past square leg. He is five from a century.
It is lunch and India ends the first session at 188/3 and a 38 run lead , with seven wickets in hand. Bangladesh picked up the crucial wickets of Pujara and Kohli at the start of the day's play but Mayank and Rahane steadied the ship and ensured India went past Bangladesh's first innings total. Mayank batting on 91 and the other end Rahane is unbeaten on 35.
The second session should be interesting as the batsmen will look to score at a better pace while the pitch is seeing some turn, as evident by Bangladesh introducing spinners into the attack before the break.
We'll be back for the post-lunch session.
170/3, 46.3 overs Into the last thirty minutes of play before lunch and the umpire gives Mayank out, caught leg before. India reviews this time and it is a successful review. The ball misses the bat and hits the pad but it a little too high and wide, which the ball tracking shows.
The the over before this, Rahane picked up a single by finding the gap wide of cover-point to complete 4000 Test runs. He is the 16th Indian to reach the milestone, taking the same number of innings (104) as Sourav Ganguly and V.V.S.Laxman to get there.
152/3, 41 overs Mayank gets a boundary off Mehidy, who has returned to the field, to take India past the 150 mark. And also give the host the lead in the Test.
146/3, 38 overs Bangladesh had a spring in its step after picking up Pujara and Kohli's wickets in quick succession. Mayank and Rahane have done well to soak in the pressure while adding runs to the board regularly. Time for drinks.
119/3, 31.5 overs A huge moment for Bangladesh as Virat Kohli is dismissed without opening his innings!
Abu Jayed makes a huge appeal after Virat Kohli is beaten when trying to defend. The umpire doesn't give in so Bangladesh asks for a review. Replays show that the ball doesn't hit the bat and tracking shows that it it is well in line of the off-stump. The umpire changes his decision and Kohli makes the long walk back. That's three wickets for Abu Jayed now.
Ajinkya Rahane comes to the crease now.
113/2, 30.4 overs And now Mayank Agarwal completes his fifty . Send the ball to the boudnary with a magnificient pull over midwicket to reach the milestone.
105/2, 29.5 overs The second wicket falls for India and Pujara walks back . He tries to drive but the ball takes an outside edge and Saif Hassan, who came on a substitue for the injured Mehidy, takes the catch at gully. The crowd isn't worried though as Virat Kohli is the man who walks in next.
Update Mehidy has left the field for some treatment. His finger must have taken a blow during that attempt to catch the ball off Pujara's bat earlier.
97/1, 27.5 overs The first boundary of the day is folllowed by another. With that, Pujara brings up his half century!
Pujara tries to cut a length ball outside off and it flies past Mehidy in gully and to the ropes. He gets his fingertips on it but the ball was travelling too quickly for him. Next ball is also short and Pujara slices it against, this time over the infield and for four more runs.
87/1, 26.1 overs Ebadat Hossain gets the day two action underway. Bowls full on the off-stump and Mayank Agarwal is happy to defend it.
Predictions What will India's status be by lunch time? I think Pujara and Mayank will take India to 180. The rest of the newsroom agrees, but they aren't sure of the session ending wicketless. What do you think? Let us know on Twitter.
ICYMI The conflict of interest complaint against former India cricketer Rahul Dravid was dismissed by the BCCI ethics officer, saying it was "bereft of any merit." More on that here.
Pitch report If you are a Bangladesh fan, look away now. Sunil Gavaskar and Murali Kartik believe that the pitch, which is "straw coloured today" will be good for bastmen.
Bangla skipper Mominul won the toss and chose to bat, a decision he now regrets
Bangladesh skipper Mominul Haque blamed himself for electing to bat in the first Test against India that started on Thursday. The Indian pacers ran through the visitor dismissing the side for 150.
“At times, your decision can be right, it can be wrong too. You can gauge that at the end of the day. If you finish the innings nicely, this thought wouldn’t have come. Mushi [Mushfiqur Rahim] and I adapted well and built a partnership. We struggled after the sudden collapse.
“I feel the decision to bat first was not correct. It is totally my fault,” he said.
Mominul, however, had the grit to stitch a 68-run stand with Rahim — the highest in Bangladesh’s innings — but his dismissal on 37 (99/4) led to a collapse. The next six wickets fell in quick succession. “A lot of players adapted like Mushi and Liton. It was probably my fault that I got out at a wrong time. If we could have continued for long, we could have got a good score.
“The wicket was not unplayable, but when you are playing against a top bowling side, you have to be mentally strong. I think we lacked on the mindset. They are a No. 1 bowling side,” added Mominul.
Bangladesh decided to rest pace spearhead Mustafizur Rahman, perhaps to manage his workload better as he is injury-prone and prepare him for the pink ball Test. He could be a threat with the pink ball.
In his absence, young quicks Abu Jayed and Ebadat Hossain tried to make the ball talk but did not prove effective in their 19 overs. “They have not played much Test cricket. They will take time to settle down. To be honest, we don’t have enough four-day bowlers in our stock. Bangladesh always concentrates more on the batting, that’s why we played two fast bowlers and an extra batsman,” he reasoned.
The pacers stole the show yesterday and Ashwin believes they are 'the best going around'
Not long ago, spin was India’s primary weapon in home conditions. Most Tests were played on rank turners. The fast bowlers were there but not as protagonists. The strategy is different now as India possesses a pace pack — a first of a kind — with Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah, who is currently nursing an injury.
After India bowled out Bangladesh for 150 in the first Test on Thursday, with seven wickets going to the pacers, off-spinner
Ravichandran Ashwin admitted "this is the best bowling attack" he has seen.
“I think our fast bowlers have been in really good rhythm. There is something happening in every spell they bowl or they make it happen.
“I personally thought all of them have been bowling well in a pack and if you add Bumrah to that, it is one of the lethal pace bowling attacks going around in the world if not the best. They are right up there,” he said after the end of day’s play.
It is not that the pacers are the only ones calling the shots. There is a fair amount of share and care that happens in the middle. Against South Africa, the spin-pace ratio of claiming wickets were 9:1 and 5:5 in Visakhapatnam, 5:5 in both innings in Pune, 4:5 in both the innings in Ranchi. However, gone are the days when India would rely and insist on a rank turner to do well in a Test match.
“I had no instruction from the team management. I knew the strength of both the teams, and I prepared the wicket accordingly,” Samandar Singh Chouhan, head curator at the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association, told Sportstar .
The pace scare
It seemed the Bangladesh batsmen were slightly defensive against the Indian quicks after the dismissal of skipper Mominul Haque. They let pass deliveries that could have been driven and swung their bats out to the ones outside off.
But Ashwin praised Bangladesh for being “brave” enough to decide to bat on a lively wicket at the Holkar Stadium. “The No. 10 and No. 11 batsmen can move away from the stumps to play the quicks but that happens with most No. 10 or 11. We thought they would bowl but they batted. Some of the batsmen, including Mominul, batted beautifully,” he said.
Quicks over spinners
The pacers ruling the roost is perhaps a good problem. Ashwin understands that. “My job is to pick up wickets, get into a rhythm and build a spell. Taking nothing away from the fast bowlers, look at Umesh [Yadav] and how phenomenal he has been giving us early breakthroughs. Ishant has been splendid with the new ball and Shami has been special.”
Ashwin was robbed off a couple of wickets as three catches were dropped; two by Ajinkya Rahane and one by Wriddhiman Saha. “Ajinkya has taken many catches off my bowling. You don’t expect him to put down catches. We are benchmarking him against his own standards. It can happen, I am expecting him to take more catches in the second innings.”
“I felt this pitch has more bounce than some of the other wickets in India. If you look at Ranchi and what we played on today, it is chalk and cheese. Probably that’s one of the reasons why the slip catches were going at a fast clip. Many of the wickets in India is a little more duller than this.”
Day 1 report: Shami, Umesh, Ishant rule day one
On a lively green wicket, with good bounce and carry, the Indian fast bowlers dictated terms on day one of the first Test here against Bangladesh. Dismissed cheaply for 150, the tourist need to pull off a miracle to stay afloat in the Test, its maiden campaign in the World Test Championship.
Electing to bat, Bangladesh openers Shadman Islam (6) and Imrul Kayes (6) had a torrid time in the middle. The left-handers looked impatient, careless and in a hurry to score as they kept swinging their bats out to length deliveries outside off.
Kayes was caught by Ajinkya Rahane at gully off an Umesh Yadav length ball, while Islam nicked an Ishant delivery to stumper Wriddhiman Saha.
In the first session, the runs that came in boundaries were either off an inside edge, top edge or an outside edge. Skipper Mominul Haque (37 off 80) and experienced batsman Mushfiqur Rahim (43 off 105) showed a bit of resistance, but the others did not last more than 36 balls.
The Shami storm
Mohammed Shami missed a Test hat-trick by a whisker. The right-arm pacer ran through Bangladesh at the stroke of tea clean bowling Rahim and trapping Mehidy Hasan in front of the stumps in consecutive balls.
But Ishant Sharma ensured a team hat-trick as the first ball of the next over saw the end of Liton Das (21); caught by Kohli at slip.
Besides the pacers, Ashwin impressed with his flight and accuracy. He cleaned up Mominul and Mahmudullah (10) with two straighter deliveries.
Dropped chances
Ashwin could've had Mominul (batting on 2) and Mahmudullah (7) out earlier but for Rahane's dropped chances in the cordon.
Rahim was dropped thrice — once on 3 by Virat Kohli at the slip cordon off a ferocious Yadav delivery — on 14 by Rahane again off Ashwin. He was tad late to react at first slip. And again on 34 by Saha off a classical off-spinner that spun back in.
The Pujara Show
Batting in the last session, Rohit Sharma (6) was the only Indian wicket to fall. Young pacer Abu Jayed stole an edge off the in-form batsman that landed straight to Liton behind the stumps. Kayes dropped Mayank Agarwal on 32 at first slip off Jayed, which was the only other chance for the visitor.
Ebadat Hossain looked clinical but not effective enough to trouble Agarwal (37*) and Cheteshwar Pujara (43*).
It was not a usual Pujara blocking deliveries. He smashed seven boundaries in the 61-ball knock.
Bangladesh perhaps missed a third pacer as the youngsters failed to maintain the momentum with the Indian batters hitting 14 boundaries in the last session, ending on 86/1 at stumps.
Day 1: India ended at 86/1, after restricting Bangladesh to 150 in the first innings. India's trio of pacers — along with Ashwin — were absolutely sensational as they blew away the Bangladesh bastmen one by one. Mominul made the right call for the toss, won it but made a horrible decision (in hindsight) to bat first.
The host finished is 64 runs behind, with Rohit Sharma out for 6. Mayank Agarwal and Cheteshwar Pujara dominated the proceedings and will look to give India the lead when they walk out today.
Comments
SHARE