2nd Test, Day 1: India trail by 208 runs after Ashwin, Umesh four-fers skittle Bangladesh out for 227

Dhaka, Dec. 22 (IANS): Captain K.L. Rahul and Shubman Gill held their nerve towards the end of the first day as they took India to 19/0 in eight overs at stumps on day one in the second Test and trail Bangladesh by 208 runs at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Thursday.

It was a day in which India thrived on a pitch which had some grass on it. Fast bowler Umesh Yadav and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin picked four wickets each to bowl out Bangladesh for 227 in 73.5 overs, with a returning Mominul Haque being the lone ranger with a stroke-filled and calm 84.

In the final session, Mehidy Hasan Miraz hit a couple of boundaries before nicking behind to Rishabh Pant off Umesh. The pacer had another wicket in quick succession when he got one to come in and trap Nurul Hasan lbw. Umesh had his fourth wicket when Taskin Ahmed went for a drive and the leading edge was snapped by point.

Ashwin came in and had Mominul chasing a wide carrom ball outside the off-stump. But the ball sneaked in and brushed the glove to go behind to the keeper. A ball later, Ashwin got his fourth wicket when Khaled Ahmed whacked a full toss to deep mid-wicket.

Apart from Umesh and Ashwin, Jaydev Unadkat picked two wickets and impressed with his accuracy and extra bounce on his return to Test cricket after 12 years, especially after he was included in place of Kuldeep Yadav, who was the player of the match in India’s 188-run victory at Chattogram.

When India came out to bat, Taskin Ahmed found pace, and some seam movement to challenge Rahul and Gill. Gill had some struggles early on, getting lucky on edges, especially the one going past the stumps.

Though he launched a six over Shakib Al Hasan’s head, Gill has his share of troubles when the left-arm spinner was on and was able to deceive Rahul too. Rahul, the Indian skipper, was beaten on defence by Taskin and survived an lbw decision via DRS.

In the next over, he was rapped on pads by Shakib but survived that as replays showed the ball would miss leg-stump. Four balls later, the day would come to a close, which was in India’s favour.

Brief scores: Bangladesh 227 all out in 73.5 overs (Mominul Haque 84, Mushfiqur Rahim 26; Umesh Yadav 4-25, Ravichandran Ashwin 4-71) lead India 19/0 in eight overs (Shubman Gill batting 14, K.L. Rahul batting 3) by 208 runs.