6 min readDec 23, 2022 07:13 AM IST
First published on: Dec 22, 2022 at 05:20 PM IST
Every time Bangladesh started to build a partnership, either they would self-destruct or India would find a way to break through. Five of the first six partnerships read 39, 43, 48, 42 and 41. None of the top seven Bangladesh batsmen made less than 15, so everyone got at least some sort of start. But only one of them went on to make more than 26 – former captain Mominul Haque, who constructed a patient 84 on comeback. Only a couple of the disappointments could be put down to the pitch playing tricks or the ball doing a bit. The result was that after losing the toss, India ran through Bangladesh for only 227 just over halfway into the third session on the first day of the second Test in Dhaka.
Perhaps it was as well that India lost the toss, because stand-in captain KL Rahul said they were not sure what to make of the pitch. There had been variable bounce, exaggerated at times, in the couple of ODIs India had played here earlier this month, although runs had been scored in the second game. The pitch for this Test, moreover, had a nice green cover, much more than the one for the first Test in Chattogram had.
Then again, the thin grass lining in Chattogram had only served to prevent the placid pitch from breaking up. In the end, India took a punt on the grass and left out Kuldeep Yadav despite his eight-wicket haul in the first Test, instead handing Jaydev Unadkat his much-desired second Test cap, 12 years after his first.
Unadkat had waited since 2010 for his first Test wicket; he had to wait another 23 deliveries into his first spell. With some luck, India could have struck much earlier than the 15th over of the innings from Unadkat. But Umesh Yadav, in particular, and Mohammed Siraj went past the edges of Najmul Hossain Shanto and Zakir Hasan numerous times. There was hardly any swing, but there was plenty of movement off what was a somewhat damp track to start with. And even after the 70th over, the seamers would keep finding something off the pitch, even though the magnitude would drop.
It was Mirpur after all, though, so the zip wasn’t quite there. But Unadkat found awkward bounce almost immediately with his height and high release. He began hitting the glove or the splice regularly, the leading edges began to pop up, and it seemed only a matter of time before the maiden Test wicket arrived. Soon enough, a short of a length delivery leaped and cut in alarmingly at Chattogram debut centurion Zakir Hasan, who had no time to get out of the way and lobbed it to the slip cordon.
From hereon until the sixth wicket to fall, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Bangladesh would threaten to develop a partnership and barring Mushfiqur Rahim, all would bring about their own downfall. Shanto padded up to what he thought was an offbreak that would spin away. But R Ashwin had bowled it with the seam parallel to the stumps, and the ball barely spun.
Shakib Al Hasan took on the left-arm spin of Axar Patel, but first ball after lunch, he decided to welcome Umesh back with a lofted boundary. This wasn’t the pitch to be hitting on the up, that too right after a break, and the Bangladesh captain failed to clear mid-off. Litton Das has been in fine nick of late, and he motored along at run a ball before clipping Ashwin straight to midwicket.
As Bangladesh kept imploding, Unadkat earned himself his second Test wicket. In his time away from the Indian team, he has grown to work out truckloads of domestic batsmen on unresponsive pitches with one tireless spell after the other. Among his bag of tricks is to go round the wicket to the right-hander and try to move it away against the angle. He would get that delivery spot-on to Mushfiqur, who could do nothing more than nick it behind.
Meanwhile, Mominul had quietly gone about his business at the other end. The past 12 months or so have been disastrous for Mominul. He had managed only single-digit scores in 14 of his 16 previous completed Test innings. He lost the Test captaincy after the defeat to Sri Lanka at home earlier this year, and eventually, also his place in the side. This was his first game in six months in the only international format he plays now.
It was a characteristic Mominul knock. He didn’t commit early, played close to the body, within himself, and attacked only when a delivery was absolutely asking for it. In a measure of how the pitch played, and also how little India gave to drive, only five of his runs came in the conventional ‘V’ down the ground. Even as he was running out of partners, he made a fatal mistake; to an Ashwin carom ball, he stretched out his arms a bit too far as he tried to leave, and the ball flicked the glove on its way to the wicketkeeper. From 213 for 5, Bangladesh could add only 14 more runs as Umesh and Ashwin ran through the lower order.
By the third session, Unadkat’s followthrough had caused a couple of clear rough areas to develop outside the right-hander’s off stump. And the odd delivery had started to either take off or stay low if it pitched there. Shubman Gill was lucky to escape with a couple of under-edges past the stumps as India closed on 19 for 0 six overs early amid bad light, and it appears that the batsmen will continue to be tested.
India's Ravichandran Ashwin, right, passes the ball over teammate Umesh Yadav . (AP) 
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