Chennai, Sep 20 2024-
Jasprit Bumrah and Akash Deep rocked Bangladesh with the new ball to leave them at 26/3 in seven overs, and trail India by 350 runs at lunch on day two of first Test at Chennai. Earlier, veteran off-spin all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin top-scored with a fine 113 as India’s first innings ended at 376 in 91.2 overs.
India struck in the opening over as Bumrah changed his angle to come around the wicket and got one to nip back in and go past a shouldering Shadman Islam to hit the top of off-stump. With Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj bowling attacking lengths, it was baptism by fire time for the Bangladeshi batters.
In the final over before lunch, Akash knocked down the middle stump of Zakir Hasan with a nip-backer coming in from wide of the crease. On the very next ball, he castled Mominul Haque with a nip-backer going past the batter’s forward defence to hit the off-stump, as seven wickets fell in the first session.
Bangladesh will need captain Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mushfiqur Rahim to rebuild their innings after lunch. Previously, with slight moisture in the pitch, Taskin Ahmed made good use of the new ball to take 3-55 while Hasan Mahmud completed back-to-back five-wicket hauls in Test cricket to end India’s innings just an hour into day two.
Bangladesh began day two by taking the second new ball, and stuck to bowling at good length area. Ashwin, resuming from 102 not out, got India’s innings to resume from 339/6 with a thick edge going over slip cordon for four. Taskin struck in his second over of the day by shaping the ball into Ravindra Jadeja and take a faint edge on his tentative poke straight to keeper.
The dismissal of Jadeja ended his 199-run partnership with Ashwin, as the left-handed batter missed his century by 14 runs. Akash threw kitchen sink at the balls towards him to hit four boundaries, including being dropped by Shakib Al Hasan on eight, before his slog off Taskin took a top-edge and was caught by mid-off for 17 off 30 balls.
Taskin got his third wicket of the day when Ashwin didn’t time his drive well and gave a catch to mid-off to fall for 113 off 133 balls and got a standing ovation from the sparse Chepauk crowd.
Mahmud ended India’s first innings in just over an hour of day two by having Bumrah edging to third slip to pick five-wicket hauls in consecutive Test matches. The pacer also became the first bowler from Bangladesh to take a five-wicket haul in Test matches in India.
Brief Scores: India 376 in 91.2 overs (Ravichandran Ashwin 113, Ravindra Jadeja 86; Hasan Mahmud 5-83, Taskin Ahmed 3-55) lead Bangladesh 26/3 in nine overs (Najmul Hossain Shanto 15 not out; Akash Deep 2-5, Jasprit Bumrah 1-10) by 350 runs (Agency)
