Lunch Bangladesh 388 (Mushfiqur 127, Umesh 3-84) and 202 for 5 (Mahmudullah 58*, Sabbir 18*, Ashwin 3-63) need another 257 to beat India 687 for 6 dec. and India 159 for 4 dec. (Pujara 54*)
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Shakib Al Hasan fell to an unplayable delivery, which fizzed out of the rough © Associated Press
India made steady strides towards sewing up the one-off Test against Bangladesh in Hyderabad by striking either side of a Jekyll-and-Hyde fifty stand between Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah. Bangladesh, facing a steep chase of 459, needed to survive two more sessions to salvage a draw. The hosts needed five more wickets for victory.
Ravindra Jadeja, like a popgun, kept firing into the rough in an interrupted spell of 14-6-31-1, including the wicket of Shakib Al Hasan in the third over of the day. R Ashwin, who came into the attack an hour and 15 minutes into the day, struck with his fourth ball when Mushfiqur, who had been batting sensibly until then, stepped out and injudiciously hit over the top against the break and holed out at wide mid-off. His wicket exposed the inexperienced lower middle order and added to the list of inglorious Bangladesh dismissals in the recent past.
Mahmudullah, who moved to his first half-century in Test cricket since July 2015, and Sabbir Rahman, playing only his fifth Test, then pushed Bangladesh to lunch without any further damage.
The rough outside the left-hand batsmen’s off stump lent itself to spin, and Jadeja had been pounding it relentlessly from the fourth day. On the fifth morning, he got one to explode from the rough, graze the top glove of Shakib and lob to Cheteshwar Pujara at short leg. Umesh Yadav, from the other end, tested Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur with reverse swing.
Facing a 481 chase – 22 more than Bangladesh were set in Hyderabad – South Africa looked to block their way out to a draw in Delhi in 2015. Chasing 475 in Indore last year, New Zealand attacked and collapsed dramatically. On Monday, Bangladesh did a bit of both.
Periods of resolute defence provided a counterpoint to periods of madness. Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah showed sound judgement outside the off stump against the seamers but threw their bats at the spinners. Mushfiqur charged at Ashwin’s second ball – a non-turning offbreak – and drove along the ground for a risky four. Two balls later, he used his feet and lobbed a catch to Jadeja. Mahmudullah sent Jadeja over the top for back-to-back boundaries in the 50th over and continued to live dangerously against spin.
Deivarayan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo