Umesh Yadav finally broke Bangladesh’ resistance as they came out to chase down a mammoth total of 513 runs at Chattogram. The openers Zakir Hasan and Nazmul Hossain Shanto gave them a terrific start as they resumed from their overnight total of 42/0 in their second innings. The openers made sure they don’t lose a single wicket in the entire opening session, notching up a hundred plus stand for the first wicket in the first Test match.
Nevertheless, it was Umesh Yadav who gave India the breakthrough at last as he bowled a straighter one to left hander Shanto who poked at it, edging it straight to Virat Kohli in the slip. Kohli was late to react and the ball deflected off his palm where wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant showed awareness and snapped the ball out of thin air. This was a relief for Kohli and for skipper KL Rahul whose face told the whole story.
Openers Zakir Hasan and Najmul Hossain Shanto batted with a lot of purpose as their gritty half-centuries helped Bangladesh reach 119 for no loss at lunch against India on the fourth day of the first Test on Saturday.
While the target of 513 is still a distant dream, the two left-handers have shown a lot more application on a track which still looks good for batting.
Incidentally, the century plus stand by Zakir (55 batting) and Shanto (64 batting) is the highest by any opening pair against India in Test matches.
Hasan and Shanto hit eight and seven boundaries respectively as the Indian bowling attack didn’t look menacing during the first hour.
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Both pacers Mohammed Siraj (10-1-32-0) and Umesh Yadav (6-2-11-0) didn’t bowl too many wicket-taking balls.
Umesh, especially bowled short and wide as Zakir slashed him over deep third man while Shanto imperiously pulled the veteran pacer behind square.
Shanto also hit back-to-back boundaries off Siraj — a beautiful on-drive which was followed by a flick towards square leg boundary.
However, the best shot of the morning was played by Zakir when he lofted Ravichandran Ashwin (14-2-43-0) inside out over extra cover to disturb the off-spinner’s length.
(With Agencies)
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