India asserts absolute dominance at home; race after rain, time to win Bangladesh with 7 wickets and a complete strike from the series 2-0
KANPUR: The Indian 11 players took to the pitch at the Green Park Stadium on Tuesday like a pack of wolves about to hunt down a rather tame Bangladesh line-up.
By noon on day 5, with three wickets apiece, jasprit boomra, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin had bowled out the Bangladesh batting for 146. And an hour into the second session, Yashasvi Jaiswal brought up his second belligerent half-century of the match as India smashed the 96-run target with seven wickets in hand to sweep the series 2-0.
Talk about taking conditions out of the equation. India had to bowl just 52 overs in a match that wiped out two-and-a-half days and a total of 173.2 overs. That’s not even two full days of Test cricket!
That’s how you beat time, slow motion and the clock to be sure World Test Championship the campaign is on its way.
When Rishabh Pant carelessly pushed Taijul Islam for a boundary over mid-on to seal the triumph, there was no lively celebration from him or his partner Virat Kohli at the other end. Absolute supremacy on native soil was conveniently established at Kanpur. This is a team that plays to win.
The step was a bit double and assisted with a variable bounce. But there was nothing poisonous about it to suggest that a team could beat their opposition twice in 121 overs.
“When Rohit says you try to make 400 and make a game out of it, that tells you the captain believes the bowlers will do the job. I believe in my players. These bowlers do it day in and day out. And they have the ability to pick 20 wickets,” Ashwin said after the Test, summing it up quite aptly.
“You will come across situations where the batsmen really dominate against our bowling attack as well. But the bowling attack is quite special. And I really hope that this legacy of bowling will continue,” he added.
When Bangladesh resumed the day at 26/2, the ball was literally dying off the pitch. Shadman Islam was comfortable even when Mominul Haque took a glove shot to slip Ashwin leg in the third over of the day. When captain Najmul Hossain Shanto joined Shadman, the pitch seemed to have lost everything.
In a rush of blood, Shanto missed a reverse shot from Jadeja that crashed into the stumps. Jadeja suddenly got the ball to bowl off the surface. Litton Das did one to Pant before Shakib Al Hasan lobbed a simple catch and throw. In between all this, Akash Deep had Shadman caught at gully by Jaiswal for a solid 50. In no time, Bangladesh were 94/7.
Cleaning up the rest of the batting with his cleverly timed dipping slower balls was child’s play for Bumrah.
“We thought to play according to the conditions and the strength of the individuals. If you’re defending and you’re caught on the bat-pad, it’s the same as getting out to sweep a wicket like that. If the batsman feels it is the best form of defence, or going out on strike is more of a stroke than a defensive stroke, that is his option,” Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusinghe said.
If the Test rankings are taken into account, it would have taken incredible performances from Bangladesh to overtake India in India. But Hathurusinghe emphasized the fact that this Indian team has grown by leaps and bounds in the last half-decade.
“I can see how Team India has improved since 2017 when I was last here. We have improved recently but we are competing with other teams. India has gone to another level completely,” he said.
