IND vs BAN: India who are the table toppers of the WTC table, have had a celebrated red ball season this time around as well. They have this wonderful start to the initiation of their red ball series, first against Bangladesh, New Zealand and lastly against Australia in the BGT which ends their test campaigns.
Recently, Sri Lanka has dominated in their home test against New Zealand and also their win in the last test on English soil, made them make a huge stir to the WTC standings as they rose to the 3rd spot. With a set of home test matches, the Lankans are in a very comfortable position.
India is hence looking to strengthen their position with prior wins before they visit Australia for the BGT, which might be a seemingly tough series for them ahead of the WTC final. India is eyeing their third consecutive entry into the WTC finals.
India faced a huge setback in the second test at Kanpur, as the rain affected the course of the game severely. The first day started off with rain and later due to lack of light they had to call off stumps early, while the next day was totally washed off by rain.
However, Day 3 was when rain was not the major affecting factor, as due to the wet outfield play was prohibited, however, a sunny day began the game on Day 4.
Bangladesh began with 107/3 which was their score at the end of Day 1, as Bumrah and Ashwin picked early wickets which reduced the Bangladeshi cricketers to a timid score of 233, despite Mominul Haque’s stunning 100, as he remained not out till the end of the innings.
With Siraj, Ashwin, Jadeja and Akash Deep picked wickets each, as Bumrah also picked 3 wickets, which restricted the Indians to a post-lunch session.
From the post-tea session, India started on a note as if they had come to bat in a T20 game, as Yashasvi Jaiswal and the Indian skipper Rohit came into bat. Sharma went off to a flyer with a pile of 6s, and Gill and Jaiswal took the innings further after the skipper got dismissed.
Jaiswal and Gill scored quick runs, and the youngster made a well-made 72, after which Rishabh Pant was sent in instead of Virat Kohli. Kohli also batted well for his 47 and Rahul gave a finish to the Indian innings with his well-made 68, which looked more like a T20 innings.
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India also in the berk of scoring quick runs was reduced to 285/9, as they declared the innings and pushed the opposition to bat in their second innings. With Bumrah and Akash Deep building onto the pressure from one end, Ashwin struck twice in the second innings as well, as Bangladesh are left 26/2 at Stumps on Day 4.
Bangladesh trail by 26 runs, as they would come to bat on the penultimate day of the match, as India would hope for a complete day of red ball action as they look to secure more WTC points before they enter the next phase of the WTC.