bangladesh 26 for 2 (Zakir 10, Shadman 7*, Ashwin 2-14) and 233 for 2 (Mominul 107*, Bumrah 3-50, Akash Deep 2-43) behind. India 285 (Jaiswal 72, Rahul 68, Mehidy 4-41, Shakib 4-78) by 26 runs on 9 December
After several days of continuous cloud cover and rain, the sun finally started to set, with the pitch showing signs of an improved performance in the first session. But the inherent nature of the black clay surface meant that some deliveries fell slightly short.
None of this mattered to Jaiswal, who began India’s response with a hat-trick of fours off Mahmood, who took five wickets in Chennai. At the other end, Rohit hit sixes off the first two balls, first by jumping down the track to fast bowler Khalid Ahmed and depositing him over long-on, then pulling one to deep-square leg stand. The pair hit two fours and two sixes and completed India’s half-century in just three overs.
In an attempt to slow down India, Bangladesh fielded Mehidy, and although he was greeted with a four through midwicket, he almost conceded a boundary on the fourth ball when Rohit was given out LBW. But Rohit took review and survived, the ball hitting outside his leg line. On the next ball, however, Mehidy had the last laugh, getting a flighted delivery to spin low and fast through Rohit’s defence.
This made no difference to Jaiswal, who went on a rampage against spin. India managed to hit at least one four in each of overs six to 12. In the process, Jaiswal scored a half-century in 31 balls and India reached 100 runs in just 10.1 overs. He used his reach well to keep the spinners away from their lengths, the highlight being that he hit a blistering shot to long-on off Mehdi, which also dipped the ball on fullish length. However, the low bounce of the surface came in handy when Mahmood’s length ball stayed slightly low and hit Jaiswal’s stumps.
Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant also attacked from the start, with the former planking Mehidy to deep midwicket after dancing down the track. But after tea, when India was in ultra-attack mode, they dismissed Shakib. Still, India’s pace did not slow down. Their aggressive play had pushed Bangladesh back and they had at least five fielders on most of the overs.
Kohli and Rahul used this to rotate the strike and bat freely. Kohli was not afraid to use his legs and turned on his ODI mode. Kohli should have been sent back after a mess with Pant, but Khalid underarmed the throw at the striker’s end and missed despite reaching the stumps. Kohli was stranded outside the crease and had given up.
He rubbed salt into the wounds of Khalid and Bangladesh by hitting two consecutive fours, the second over being hit over extra cover. He also used his legs against spin and hit Taijul Islam straight to long-off. However, he was bowled out after slipping a ball while attempting to slog Shakib to midwicket.
However, Rahul made full use of the sweep and reverse sweep and did not stop even once. He looked comfortable against slow pace on the surface and was successful in taking advantage of any width. He produced a masterclass in playing against spin and scored his fastest Test half-century off 33 balls. But India went from 269 for 5 to 284 for 9 just before the declaration.
The day started with Akash Deep and Jasprit Bumrah bowling four maiden overs in the first five overs of Bangladesh’s first innings. The only runs in that phase came from an inside edge off Mushfiqur Rahim, with both bowlers hitting the area around a good length to varying degrees of lift-off. Bumrah then got an in-ducker to give more bounce and took the inside edge to Mushfiqur for four runs, but he was out on the next ball after raising his arms. According to the broadcast, the boundary ball fell outside of good length and deviated 2 cm into the batsman; The wicket ball deviated by about 6 cm from the same landing spot, and led to Mushfiqur’s wrong decision.
Rohit was not afraid of setting aggressive fields, and the scene of three slips and two gullies was a familiar one for most of the first session. This gave Bangladesh’s batsmen enough space to hit boundaries, as Liton Das did three times in one over from Bumrah. But India’s disciplined bowling created enough pressure and with the help of excellent fielding, Liton fell in an attempt to break the tie. He attacked a length ball from Mohammed Siraj and slapped it mid-air towards wide mid-off, where Rohit timed his jump perfectly to loft the ball with one hand.
Shakib’s stay in the middle then lasted only 17 balls, his attempts to use his legs against Ashwin proving futile for him. He could have avoided it had Siraj not backed away from mid-off and taken a one-handed catch while falling backwards.
After lunch, Mehidy hit Bumrah for three fours in seven balls, but the latter took revenge by dismissing him with a back-of-a-length ball that turned inside out and went away. Jadeja then caught and bowled Khalid to take his 300th Test wicket as Bangladesh lost their last seven wickets for 121 runs.
S Sudarshan is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @sudarshan7
