India took further control of the one-off Test against Bangladesh as pacers Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma tore through the top order on Saturday. Facing a daunting task of scaling India’s Everest of a score of 687/6, Bangladesh found themselves hanging for dear life at 125/4 at lunch on day three, after they resumed their innings overnight at 41/1.
Yadav bowled a terrific five-over spell of pace and reverse-swing bowling, picking up just the one wicket of Mominul Haque, but got the visiting batsmen hopping on their toes and swinging their bats blindly. It was a great sight to watch if you’re an Indian fan. That he has picked up just 17 wickets in the 10 Tests he has played since the West Indies tour last year is purely down to some bad luck. He has bowled well right through the season, but was unlucky to have a lot of catches dropped off his bowling.
Ishant Sharma, after a horrid spell on Friday, turned up finally on day two as he too got the ball to reverse. The Delhi bowler soon picked up the wicket of Mahmudullah leg-before with a delivery that nipped back in. Earlier, Tamim Iqbal had committed the cardinal sin of running himself out in a Test match.
Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim and veteran Shakib Al Hasan then carried the team to the temporary safety of the lunch break, with their score still trailing India’s by 562 runs.
Brief score:
India 687/6 declared (Virat Kohli 204, Murali Vijay 108; Taijul Islam 3/156, Mehedi Hasan 2/165) lead Bangladesh 41/1 (Tamim Iqbal 24 not out, Soumya Sarkar 15, Umesh Yadav 1/15) trail by 526 runs.