India 376 (Ashwin 113, Jadeja 86, Mahmud 5-83, Taskin 3-55) and 81 for 3 (Gill 33*) lead Bangladesh 149 (Bumrah 4-50, Deep 2-19, Jadeja 2-19) 308 runs
Bangladesh came out of the frying pan with four quick wickets to bowl India out early on Day 2, but were immediately put into the fire of a ruthless Indian bowling attack and were bowled out in just 47.1 overs. India were called into bat despite having a 227-run lead and on Day 2, Stumpf took seven second-innings wickets to take a 308-run lead.
The day started on a positive note for Bangladesh. Taskin Ahmed used the second new ball much better than the first, taking three wickets, and Hasan Mahmud completed Bangladesh’s first five balls in India, leaving India with just 37 to add to their overnight score. But their bowlers were quick to remind themselves that they had already made too many mistakes on day one. India’s fast bowlers immediately cashed in, testing spell after spell, making one mistake every three balls to reduce Bangladesh to 40-5.
Bumrah gave the wicket to the left-handed opener and moved the ball steadily away, but then wandered over for the last ball of the first over. Shadman Islam left him, perhaps because the previous five balls had all been moved away. But this one came back in and hit the top of the off. Zakir Hasan survived an lbw call that was wrongly judged by both the umpire and the Indian captain, but Deep was too good for him and Mominul Haque.
Deep’s first over wasn’t the best just around the wicket, but in his second over he got a good length ball just outside off. Zakir was completely beaten and Mominul lined up his pads for the ball to bounce over the wicket. He would have been lbw anyway. Mushfiqur Rahim swung the hat-trick ball towards Gully but it fell short.
After lunch, India went back to their top two bowlers who had bowled only a short time before the break. Siraj, who had earlier missed Zakir’s wicket, was the most accurate of the three. Najmul Hossain tried to walk to him to stop the move, but still managed to get to second slip as the wobble seam ball was thrown off him.
Bumrah continued to test Mushfiqur before he threw an unusual delivery after the delivery. It was not meant to be, but sometimes – especially when the seam is vertical – the ball starts swinging after it has passed the batsman. This one started swinging before it even passed Mushfiqur, who otherwise covered the angle. He took the edge, quickly went to second slip and started to get away from KL Rahul at the last moment. Rahul’s upper body turned with the ball and his soft hands meant the catch was made.
Now the action began to settle down, and Litton Das and Shakib Al Hasan quickly put up 51 runs with some nice drives. Then came the Indian spin twins, who gave nothing away despite providing little help on the pitch. Trying to dominate them, Litton slog-sweeped a lot more square than he would have liked and gave a catch at deep square leg. Shakib unfortunately reverse-sweeped Ravindra Jadeja right on his boot and lobbed it to Rishabh Pant.
Just before tea time, India brought back the threat of Siraj and Bumrah. Siraj found the edge immediately but was not carried, but Bumrah, who turned out to be the last ball before tea time, got the better of Mahmud. Bangladesh still fell 65 runs short of avoiding a follow-on. Bangladesh’s last two wickets came in 45 minutes, including a boundary from Bumrah that clearly started something. Bumrah weakened Taskin Ahmed with a short ball, hit him on the helmet and gloves, and then cleared him with a pinpoint yorker.
Tall Nahid Rana also didn’t like going behind Bhumara’s line but somehow managed to keep him from giving up five fours and two boundaries. He eventually got his second wicket by pushing Siraj to a single. India batted for over an hour and a half before going to stumps on Day 2.
They were way ahead in the game, and India came out swinging. Yashasvi Jaiswal took 10 runs in his first over, and Rohit Sharma flicked the first ball he faced for four, but they soon found the pitch wasn’t flat enough to play with bowling. Their wickets were 16 for 16 in Chepauk, the most in a day. Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli batted on the merits of their bowling, but they got 17 wickets in a day with a rare out (a right-handed batsman out lbw to an off-spinner playing forward). It was Kohli who didn’t review it, and an ultra edge was followed by an inside edge. By stumps, India were over 300 runs ahead.
Sidharth Monga is a senior writer at ESPNcricinfo.
