Bangladesh spinners, led by their talismanic skipper Shakib Al Hasan and young Mehidy Hasan Miraz, forced Indian batters to press the panic button in a tricky chase of 145 as the visitors ended an engaging third day’s play, tottering at 45 for 4 in the second Test in Mirpur on Saturday. Having dominated for the better part of two and half days, Bangladesh’s lower middle-order, led by Litton Das (73 off 98 balls) and supported by Nurul Hasan Sohan (31 off 29 balls) and Taskin Ahmed (31 off 46 balls), counter-attacked to take their second innings score to 231, giving their bowlers something to defend.
If India happened to lose this game, the 118 runs scored by the last four Bangladeshi pairs will haunt them as much as not using a third spinner in Kuldeep Yadav on a track that became increasingly venomous as the match progressed.
If they overhaul 145, it will be third highest successful fourth innings chase at this ground as the top three winning scores are 209, 205, and 103.
KL Rahul (2), who had a horrendous game as a skipper as well as a batter, would like to forget this game in a hurry. At the same time, the stodgy Cheteshwar Pujara (6) suffered his downfall because of his anxiousness to negate any turn on offer.
Shubman Gill (7) had his worse day on the tour, increasing India’s worry.
Read more: https://sports.ndtv.com/bangladesh-vs-india-2022-23/india-stare-at-defeat-as-bangladesh-spinners-get-into-action-3635387
