India 477 for 4 (Kohli 191*, Saha 4*, Taijul 2-79) v Bangladesh
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Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli added 222 runs in 49.5 overs © Associated Press
Virat Kohli had not scored a double-hundred in Tests until July 2016. He moved within nine runs of his fourth double-hundred in seven months, on the second day against a listless Bangladesh attack in Hyderabad. A double-hundred in Tests might be the fantasy of several batsmen, but this innings from Kohli seemed inevitable. India scored 121 runs in the second morning session, including 70 in the first hour, to swell their total to 477 for 4 at lunch.
Along the way, Kohli snatched the record for most Test runs in a home season from his former colleague Virender Sehwag.
Ajinkya Rahane, who was picked over Karun Nair and returning from a finger injury, played some sparkling shots of his own, but for most part he just did his thing – bunting the ball into the gaps – before he spooned a catch to short cover, where Mehedi Hasan Miraz dived to his left and watched the ball stick in his left hand.
If Bangladesh thought the wicket, which came after nearly 300 balls, was an opening, they were wrong. It was another false dawn. The ball suddenly started to turn sharply, and Tajul Isam drew Wriddhiman Saha a long way out of the crease, but Mushfiqur reprieved him. He had so much time that he missed a stumping chance twice. By the time he swiped the bails off on the third attempt, Saha had returned to the crease. In between, Kohli endured a nervy moment when he was given out leg-before by umpire Joel Wilson on 180. Kohli revived it with ball-tracking showing the ball from Mehedi was turning too much and missing leg stump.
Apart from that, he toyed with the field and Taskin Ahmed, who did not help Bangladesh by frequently erring short in a spell that read 5-0-38-1. Kohli lashed Taskin over the top, something he had not done on the first day, to the left of deep point, and off the very next ball he lashed Taskin along the ground to the right of deep point. When Taskin went shorter outside off, Kohli ramped him over the unmanned slip cordon. Mushfiqur followed the ball and posted a third man, only for Kohli to beat him to his right with a sliced four.
Rahane reached his half-century off 73 balls when he dispatched a full toss over wide mid-on. He was dropped on 62 by Sabbir Rahman, tearing in from deep point, but he added only 21 runs before he was undone by drift.
That some balls ripped past the outside edge and even raised puffs of dust from an already tiring surface added to Bangladesh’s troubles and probably left R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, the leading spinners in Tests, licking their lips.
Deivarayan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo