Chittagong: Opener Zakir Hasan scored a century on his Test debut but spinners led by Akshar Patel staged a fine comeback as India came close to winning the first Test against Bangladesh here on Saturday. Chasing a tough target of 513, Bangladesh scored 272 for six at the end of the fourth day’s play.
He is still 241 runs away from the target. India need only four wickets on the fifth and final day to take the lead in the two-match series. Zakir (100) put on 124 for the first wicket with Najmul Hossain Shanto (67) to get Bangladesh off to a good start but India managed to bounce back in the final two sessions. For India, Akshar Patel took three wickets for 50 runs while Umesh Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav took one wicket each.
India did not get a single breakthrough in the first session but managed to get three wickets in the second session. Meanwhile, India conceded only 57 runs while Bangladesh, leading by 42 runs without loss in the morning, took the score to 119 runs at lunch in the first session. If Bangladesh managed to add 96 runs in the third session, the credit goes to captain Shakib Al Hasan (40 not out) who batted aggressively.
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He also hit sixes on Akshar and Kuldeep. Mehidy Hasan Miraj was playing on nine with him when the stumps were uprooted. Zakir held one end in the first two sessions but lost his concentration after completing a century early in the third session. He became the fourth Bangladeshi batsman to score a century on his Test debut with a four off Akshar Patel.
Before him, Aminul Islam, Mohammad Ashraful and Abul Hasan had achieved this feat. Aminul did this feat against India. But in Ashwin’s next over, the ball took the inside edge of Zakir’s bat and hit the pad and bounced in the air, which Virat Kohli did not make any mistake in catching. Zakir faced 24 balls in his innings and hit 12 fours and a six.
India’s first success was given by experienced fast bowler Umesh Yadav. His ball took the outside edge of Shanto’s bat and went to Kohli at first slip but he could not catch it and wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant dived and got it in his gloves before the ball skittered from his hands and fell down. After this, Akshar bowled Yasir Ali (five) and gave India a second success soon.
Yasir wanted to go ahead and play a defensive shot but his off-stump was empty and he got bowled after getting caught. Liton Das (19) supported Zakir for some time but scooped Kuldeep’s googly and was caught by Umesh at long-on. India took the second new ball after 84 overs but kept the spin attack in check from one end.
Akshar, who wreaked havoc with the new ball in the home series against England, once again struck a chord as he dismissed Mushfiqur Rahim (23) and Nurul Hasan (three) in one over to put Bangladesh in deep trouble. Rahim wanted to play defensively but the ball hit the off-stump after giving away his bat. On the last ball of the same over, Patel tempted Nurul Hasan to step forward and hit the shot, but the ball caught the eye of his bat and reached wicketkeeper Pant, who made no mistake in getting out stumped.
Bangladesh openers denied India success in the first session on a pitch that looked conducive for batting. In the first session, India’s fast bowlers Mohammad Siraj and Umesh Yadav bowled very few deliveries to get wickets. Umesh bowled short pitch and outside off stump which was easily pulled by Zakir to deep third man while Shanto pulled it impressively.
Shanto also scored two consecutive fours on Siraj. Zakir’s extra cover shot on off-spinner Ashwin was a sight to behold. India had bowled Bangladesh out for 150 after scoring 404 in their first innings. India declared their second innings at 258 for two with the help of centuries from Shubman Gill (110) and Cheteshwar Pujara (102 not out). (agency)