Kanpur: Ravichandran Ashwin drew first blood, Ravindra Jadeja ripped the heart out while Jasprit Bumrah put the final nail in Bangladesh’s coffin as India routed the visitors by seven wickets in the second Test to complete a record-extending 18th series win at home here on Tuesday.
It was one of the most exhilarating performances by the Indian team despite losing more than 200 overs of play with two days of complete wash-out. The outright victory consolidated India’s pole position in the ICC World Test Championship Table (WTC) with 74.24 percentage points.
Bangladesh needed a resolute fightback on the final day to salvage a draw but they collapsed to 146 after resuming the day 26 for two. Bumrah (3/17 in 10 overs), Ravichandran Ashwin (3/50 in 15 overs) and Ravindra Jadeja (3/34 in 10 overs) shared bulk of the spoils.
India scored the required 95 runs in 17.2 overs with ‘Player Of The Match’ Yashasvi Jaiswal (51) scoring his second fifty of the match.
For Bangladesh, opener Shadman Islam (50) and former skipper Mushfiqur Rahim (37) were the only batters who offered some resistance while others succumbed to relentless pressure from the home bowlers after a top notch batting performance to make a match of it.
The biggest disappointment was Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto’s reckless reverse sweep off Jadeja that opened the floodgates.
After Ashwin removed first innings centurion Mominul Haque in the firsts few minutes, Jadeja broke the back of Bangladeshi middle-order with his sizzling performance, while Bumrah also contributed to the win with his incisive bowling that resulted in three wickets.
India, who had a 52-run first innings lead, knocked off the required 95 runs in 17.2 overs after losing Rohit Sharma (8) and Shubhman Gill (6) to off-spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz .
Jaiswal and Virat Kohli (29 not out) shared a 58-run stand for the third wicket.
Like the first inninngs, Rohit and Jaiswal went after the Bangladeshi bowlers even as the home skipper departed early when his sweep off Miraz landed straight into the hands of Hasan Mahmud.
Shubman Gill was also trapped by Miraz. Kohli worked the ball around to go steady, while Jaiswal also batted with maturity to complete his second successive half-century. With just three runs required to complete the win, Jaiswal went after Taijul Islam and ended up giving a catch to Shakib at extra cover.
Rishabh Pant (4) finished the game in style with a boundary off Taijul. India have not lost a match to Bangladesh in Test cricket and the fact that they won this contest in a mere six sessions after losing two full days to rain, speaks volumes of the gulf between the two teams.
Beginning the decisive day at 26 for two, Bangladesh lost overnight batter and first innings centurion Mominul to Ashwin quickly but Shadman (50 off 101) kept one end tight with his fighting knock that had 10 boundaries.
Shadman raised a 55-run stand with his skipper for the fourth wicket but Shanto (19 off 37) undid the good work with his poor shot selection.
India were willing to take the risk of being bowled for 100-odd in its bold push for a result in the weather-hit second Test against Bangladesh, said Rohit Sharma after the hosts pulled off a dramatic win here on Tuesday.