Hyderabad Test: India tame Bangladesh by 208 runs

Ravindra Jadeja (L) and Virat Kohli (R) (Photo: AFP)


India beat Bangladesh by 208 runs in the one-off Test in Hyderabad on Monday, ending the Tigers’ stubborn resistance on the final day’s play as Virat Kohli’s unbeaten streak as India’s Test captain extended to 19 matches.

India had set Bangladesh a hefty target of 459 on Sunday, and the visitors made a real fight of it, but eventually crumbled at 250/10 after some smart bowling from the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

Bangladesh were faced with the daunting prospect of batting out on the final day with seven wickets remaining and for a while that seemed possible, as Shakib Al Hasan (22) and Mahmudullah (64) continued their good work from the previous day’s play. Hasan didn't last long in the morning session, falling to Jadeja’s guile and while captain Mushfiqur Rahim then started a promising partnership with Mahmudullah, his decision to attack Ashwin backfired spectacularly.

The skipper departed for just 23 runs and next was Sabbir Rahman (22) who was given out LBW by Ishant Sharma after engaging in a war of words with the gangly pacer moments prior to his dismissal. 
As his teammates wickets started to tumble, Mahmudullah went too, attempting a hook shot off Sharma, only to misjudge the length and the resulting shot carried straight to Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

While the tail-enders continued to frustrate Kohli, he kept his faith in his bowlers, who maintained their line and length and despite conceding the odd boundary, continued to coax the best from his players.

And the last man to go was Taskin Ahmed and it was Ashwin yet again who was the man responsible, getting the Bangladesh man out for LBW despite empire Marais Erasmus going upstairs for a review.
 
India had won the toss, chasing to bat and had posted a mammoth first-innings total of 687/6 (Virat Kohli 204, Murali Vijay 108, Wriddhiman Saha 106) with skipper Kohli becoming the first man to score a double hundred in four consecutive Test series.

Bangladesh responded with a decent total of 388/10 (Mushfiqur Rahim 127, Shakib Al Hasan 81, Mehedi Hasan 51), but fell a long way short of the target and while India had the option to enforce the follow on, they chose to bat again.

In a span of 29 overs, the Indian batsmen put up 159 runs on the board for the loss of 4 wickets (Cheteshwar Pujara 54*, Virat Kohli 38, Ajinkya Rahane 28) as they declared Day four, giving the visitors a improbable target of 459.

While the hosts were expected to beat Bangladesh, the match still had to be won and Anil Kumble's wards did the job well to prepare for the upcoming home series against Australia in the best manner possible.