Team India inched closer to a big win on Saturday despite a spirited fightback from Bangladesh with the bat, needing four more wickets to clinch the first Test at Chattogram and go 1-0 up in the two-match series.
India declared on 258/2 after bundling Bangladesh out for 150 on Day 3, setting the hosts an improbable 513 to win. Bangladesh were off to a promising start in the evening session on Day 3, and converted that start into a solid opening partnership in the morning of the penultimate day.
The Indians, however, are quite the force especially in spin-friendly conditions that mirror what they usual prepare at home, and highlighted the same by pushing the Bangla Tigers on the backfoot through wickets at regular intervals. At the close of play, Bangladesh were 272/6, needing another 241 to win with four wickets in hand and a set Shakib Al Hasan at the crease.
Here are some of the key moments from the fourth day’s play:
Zakir Hasan’s maiden Test ton
Shubman Gill isn’t the only batter to bring up his maiden Test hundred in the ongoing match at Chattogram after all, with young opener Zakir Hasan also bringing up the milestone just a day after the Punjab batter’s feat. And unlike Gill, Hasan brought up the three-figure mark in his maiden Test.
Hasan, who was among the standout performers in Bangladesh A’s unofficial Test series against India A and helped the home team salvage a draw in the first game, scored exactly a hundred runs on the penultimate day of the first Test, collecting 13 fours and a six along the way.
Hasan brought up the milestone with a boundary off Axar, taking 219 deliveries to get there, but was dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin the very next over.
Zakir-Shanto opening stand
Not only did Hasan bring up his maiden Test hundred on debut, he also forged a solid opening stand with Najmul Hossain Shanto worth 124 runs that gave the hosts real hope of salvaging a draw in the two remaining days of the match.
Shanto and Hasan were unbeaten on 25 and 17 respectively overnight, stitching a 42-run stand on Friday evening and carried on from where they left off on the third day. Shanto set the tone in the fourth over of the day by hitting back-to-back boundaries off Mohammed Siraj, bringing up the fifty partnership in the process.
Shanto, incidentally, would also bring up the century stand with a boundary off Siraj, with whom he had several run-ins in the morning session, with the young Indian pacer not shying away from dishing out some pleasantries to try and get a breakthrough.
The pair managed to bat out the entire morning session, with Shanto getting dismissed shortly after lunch off Umesh Yadav’s bowling.
Axar leads India’s fightback
After Bangladesh’s domination of the morning session, Team India slowly began to fight back post-lunch, with left-arm spinner Axar Patel leading the Rahul-led side’s charge with a haul of 3/50 from 27 overs.
Patel struck shortly after Umesh broke the 124-run opening stand, beating Yasir Ali’s bat with a hint of turn to rattle his stumps, sending the Bangladeshi No 3 for a second-consecutive single-digit score. Axar would later remove senior keeper-batter Mushfiqur Rahim (23) in a similar manner, uprooting his off stump, before getting Nurul Hasan for 3.
Bangladesh, who were going strong at 208/3, were suddenly reduced to 238/6 in the evening session, putting the Indians in the driver’s seat.
Shakib gives Tigers hope
All’s not over for the Tigers though, even if they have just four wickets in hand and need another 241 runs to pull off a record chase. Veteran all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan was still at the crease at the time of the umpires declaring stumps, appearing fairly well set on 40 off 69 balls.
Shakib for one, is no stranger to pressure and would know a thing or two about thwarting the Indian attack’s charge on the final day, even if the task of saving the game for his side is Herculean. What should aid his cause is the presence of Mehidy Hasan MIraz at the other end.
Miraz starred in Bangladesh’s 2-1 ODI series win earlier, producing a superb finishing act in the first game before scoring his maiden ODI ton in the second, and was batting on 9 off 40 balls at close of play on Saturday. Should these two somehow survive the morning session on the fifth day, then Bangladesh could still have a chance of salvaging the game.
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