Dhaka: India suffered a top-order collapse to end Day 3 at 45/4 in 23 overs in their second innings and still require 100 more runs with six wickets in hand to win the second Test on a deteriorating pitch against Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, here on Saturday.
Bangladesh were reeling at 113/6 in their second innings. But Litton Das’s counter-attacking 73 helped the hosts’ get 118 runs off the last four wickets. He led the fightback with crucial partnerships of 46 with Nurul Hasan, who made 31 and 60 with Taskin Ahmed, who made an unbeaten 31, as Bangladesh made 231 in 70.2 overs.
In defence, Bangladesh’s bowlers often attacked the stumps, were accurate with their line and length. The spinners hit the rough patches constantly and reaped rewards with persistent pressure as India’s top four batters went on an ultra-defensive approach and lost their wickets in the process, three of them taken by off-spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz.
Bangladesh had a brilliant start to defend 145 when a flighted delivery from captain Shakib Al Hasan drew his Indian counterpart KL Rahul forward in the third over. Rahul played a forward defence, but the thick outer edge was caught by Nurul Hasan behind.
Cheteshwar Pujara rolled his wrists to sweep Shakib through the gap in the leg-side. But while dancing down the pitch and trying to defend straight off Mehidy, he was beaten on the outside edge and was stumped by Nurul after an initial fumble.
Shubman Gill’s struggle came to an end when he came down the pitch to play against Mehidy, but the off-spinner pulled his length back and went past Gill’s bat with Nurul completing an easy stumping.
Virat Kohli survived an lbw appeal off Taijul Islam as replays showed an inside edge. But three overs later, Kohli pressed forward to defend against Mehidy and the inside edge was caught by an alert short leg.
Axar Patel, promoted to number four, was proactive at the crease, punching and pulling against the spinners to be unbeaten on 26 with Jaydev Unadkat not out on three. A see-saw day of Test cricket on Saturday has set the stage for a riveting climax to the match on day four.
Earlier, Das began the final session with a lovely lofted drive over cover for a boundary off Mohammed Siraj, before punching off Axar through backward point for four more. Taskin got a thick edge past gully off Siraj, bringing the half-century of the partnership.
Mohammed Siraj broke the 60-run partnership off 76 balls when his nip-backer castled Das through the gate. In the next over, Taijul was trapped lbw by Ravichandran Ashwin and took the DRS to change the on-field call, but replays showed impact on umpire’s call as ball just clipped the leg-stump.
Taskin and Khaled Ahmed took a boundary each off Siraj and Ashwin respectively before the latter was run-out while trying to take a tight single through the leg-side. Gill at short leg collected the ball quickly and threw to bowler’s end to catch Khaled short of his crease.
Brief Scores: Bangladesh 227 in 73.5 overs and 231 in 70.2 overs (Litton Das 73, Nurul Hasan 31; Axar Patel 3/58, Mohammed Siraj 2/41) lead India 314 in 86.3 overs and 45/4 in 23 overs (Axar Patel 26 not out; Mehidy Hasan Miraz 3/12) by 100 runs
–IANS