Ravichandran Ashwin and Shreyas Iyer pulled off an amazing win for India on Day 4 of the second Test match against Bangladesh on Sunday (December 25). After resuming at 45/4 on Day 4, India lost three wickets in quick succession but Ashwin and Shreyas put together an unbeaten 71-run partnership for the eighth wicket to guide India to a three-wicket and a 2-0 series win.
After shattering India's top order by bagging three wickets during the last session on Day 3, Mehidy Hasan Miraz took two more wickets in the form of Axar Patel and Rishabh Pant in the first session on Day 4 to put Bangladesh on course for their first-ever Test win against India.
But Ashwin and Iyer's unbroken 71-run partnership proved enough for India to avoid an embarrassing loss. Ashwin scored 42* off 62 balls with the help of four fours and a six to win the Player of the Match award while Shreyas contributed 29* off 46 balls.
Shreyas Iyer makes his case stronger in the Test circuit
Shreyas scored 86 runs in the first innings of the first Test while batting at six and then scored 87 runs off just 105 balls in the first innings of the second Test batting at the same position.
He recently broke into India's red-ball team and in this series, he completed 500 Test runs and currently averages 56.72 in the format. With Kohli, Pujara, and Pant being a regular part of the team, the Indian team looks sorted as far as its middle order in Tests is concerned.
Mehidy Hasan continues to trouble India
The in-form all-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz took two more wickets on Day 4 to record his ninth five-wicket haul in Tests. He also had five wickets across two innings in the first match against India after his impressive match-winning performances in the ODI series.
Both Taijul and Shakib grabbed four wickets each in the first innings of the second Test but Mehidy Hasan's five-wicket haul while defending the target of 145 runs troubled India a lot on Day 4.
Losing Captain, Shakib Al Hasan said:
Everyone contributed, we've played well in this venue. Shreyas and Ashwin batted well under pressure. We needed one more wicket. We can think of lots of ifs and buts but happy with the way we thought. It was unfortunate I couldn't bowl well in the first Test, but happy to have done well here. The mindset of the team makes me happy. Hopefully, we get better results next year.
Winning Captain, KL Rahul said:
You just trust the guys in the middle. There's always belief but there were nerves, we are human. But we trusted the batters out. Today, Ashwin and Shreyas did it with ease and style. Well done to them to earn India the win. We never thought it'd be a cakewalk, thought we need to grind and work hard for runs which Bangladesh did. It was tougher with the new ball. We lost more wickets than we'd have liked. We've made mistakes but will look to learn and hopefully put a better performance if a similar situation arises in the future. Happy with our bowling depth in the last 6-7 years. The series wins say a lot about how well we've groomed our pace attack. Ashwin and Axar have also done really well. Umesh put his hands up, Jaydev came in after a long time but bowled phenomenally well and probably deserved more wickets than he got. But the pressure helped Ashwin and Axar capitalise.
Player of the Match, Ravichandran Ashwin said:
Been a long time, hello, Sanjay. Game was on the line. I thought Bangladesh played really well. The game had to be won the hard way. Shreyas batted beautifully, if he wasn't the player of the series, I'd have shared this with him. In these situations, sometimes you feel you need to hit your way. They bowled well. But we needed to trust our defence. I wanted to get in and support Shreyas. Pitches were good, they were a touch slow. But the ball made a difference. The hosts put us under a lot of pressure. Good performances as well.
Player of the Series, Cheteshwar Pujara said:
It's been a hard series, series was very competitive. I feel I've found my rhythm. A lot of hard work has been put in, I've played many first-class games and have worked on my game. (On first-class) If you look at the gap between Test series, playing first-class helps keep in touch. Each game is important with the WTC and you have to be on top of your game. I've played many first-class and Test matches. You need to be mentally strong.
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