Kanpur Test: Jadeja, Bumrah trigger Bangladesh into self-destruction
India took giant strides towards completing a win in Kanpur on the fifth morning of the second Test against Bangladesh. The visitors lost their remaining eight wickets in the first session that went on for close to three hours, thereby leaving India with a paltry target of 95 to seal the Test match.
Jasprit Bumrah (3-17) and Ravindra Jadeja (3-50) were the major destroyers with the ball for India on the final day but they were generously aided by some bizarre shot-selection from Bangladesh’s batters. Barring Shadman Islam (50) and to an extent Mushfiqur Rahim (37), none of them seemed to be in the mood to put up a fight.
Starting the day with a slender deficit of 26, Bangladesh’s first priority would have been to get into the lead without losing a wicket. That, unfortunately, didn’t go to plan as first innings centurion Mominul Haque fell to a clever little plan from Rohit Sharma and co. Knowing Mominul’s tendency to sweep, there was a leg slip in place, which meant that he couldn’t look for the paddle. Then, in an attempt to play the hard sweep, he got it right off the face of the bat, only for KL Rahul to take a sharp catch at leg slip, with Ravichandran Ashwin the bowler. The early strike did dent Bangladesh but they recovered briefly.
It was the breakthrough that opened the floodgates as Jadeja then had Litton Das nicking behind to a ripper while Shakib Al Hasan offered a tame return catch. Shadman then fell just after his fifty to a loose shot against the relentless Akash Deep. From 91/3, Bangladesh were now on the ropes at 94/7 with India breathing fire. Bumrah then made short work of the tail, dispatching Mehidy Hasan and Taijul Islam in succession.
Rahim managed to delay the inevitable for a while by farming the strike with last man Khaled Ahmed. With the ninth wicket falling at the stroke of the scheduled lunch break, the session had to be extended by a maximum of 30 minutes. Rahim chipped away at the runs and seemed like closing the session out unscathed, only to be undone by a Bumrah brilliance. With the final ball of the session, India’s pace spearhead let fly his signature off-cutter that gripped and cleaned up Rahim who didn’t help his cause by trying a booming drive. It was a fitting end to the session for India who are now in pole position to complete the winning formalities.
Brief scores: Bangladesh 233 and 146 (Shadman Islam 50, Mushfiqur Rahim 37; Jasprit Bumrah 3-17, Ravindra Jadeja 3-34) lead India 285/9 decl. (Yashasvi Jaiswal 72, KL Rahul 68; Mehidy Hasan 4-41, Shakib Al Hasan 4-78) by 94 runs.