India posted 404/10 in first innings. India started the day with a score of 278/6 from the previous night, but lost Shreyas Iyer in the first session. India came very close to 400 runs thanks to a 92-run partnership between Kuldeep Yadav and R Ashwin for the eighth wicket. After Ashwin was dismissed for 58, Taijul Islam quickly bowled Kuldeep Yadav out for 40. India reached 278/6 at stumps after Cheteshwar Pujara and Iyer helped them recover from a difficult Day 1 situation. India was once down to 48/3, but Pujara remained steadfast at one end before being outclassed by Taijul Islam on 90. Iyer scored 82 to finish the day unbeaten.
Coming out to bowl, team India changed the game as they were successful in bagging two early wickets of the hosts, forcing them to play under pressure. With debutant Zakir and experienced batter Litton, Bangladesh will be putting up high hopes. Umesh Yadav bowled out Yasir Ali, giving team India their second quick wicket after Mohammed Siraj’s magical delivery forced Shanto to walk back with a golden duck. Litton Das made a counterattack threat, even hitting Umesh Yadav for three straight fours, but after sparring with Siraj verbally, he too was knocked down. When Bangladesh was at 56/4, Siraj had debutant Zakir Hasan nicking behind.
Once Kuldeep was added to the attack, things only got worse for Bangladesh from that point on. Shakib Al Hasan was caught at slip after the wristspinner made a striking strike with his second ball, beating him in flight. Nurul Hasan was caught after he was caught by Subman Gill, who made a superb catch at short leg, after weaving a web around him. The decisive blow was delivered by Kuldeep in his subsequent over when he trapped the seasoned Mushfiqur Rahim LBW while he was playing around a full ball. He also had Taijul Islam in the same over. What had already been a good day out for him was made even better by his four-fer.
” I was a bit nervous, I was very lucky to get the first wicket in the first over. Got the momentum back. After a couple of overs, I started feeling well, mixed my pace and variations, tried both the angles – over the wicket and round the wicket. I was getting proper turn, I was actually loving it. After I got injured, I started working on my rhythm, trying to be a bit quicker – that’s helping me a lot. I am not compromising with the spin. When I was batting, I thought that there was not much in it for the spinners. I didn’t face any discomfort while batting. I thought it’ll be good for batting. When you’re a wrist-spinner bowling with the Kookaburra ball, you’ll definitely get turn and bounce on such wickets,” Kuldeep Yadav said.
