It took 47 minutes and 52 deliveries on day three for the Indian pacers to wrap up the Bangladesh second innings and win the first-ever pink-ball, day-night Test in the country by an innings and 46 runs.
The 2-0 sweep of the series at the Eden Gardens here on Sunday has consolidated India’s position atop the International Cricket Council World Test Championship table, having reached 360 points.
New high
The Virat Kohli-led Indian side touched a new high by winning its seventh straight Test — its best-ever winning streak — and closed its home season on an encouraging note. India also became the first team in Test history to record four successive innings victories.
The match also underlined the might of the pacers — who claimed all 19 wickets to fall — as India won a home Test without any contribution from its spinners.
Facing the inevitable, Bangladesh, resuming at 152 for six, added 43 runs to close at 195 for nine as Mahmudullah, who had retired hurt the previous evening due to a hamstring issue, was unable to return.
Bangladesh lost its seventh wicket off the 10th ball of the day. Ebadot Hossain, who joined Mushfiqur Rahim, offered an easy catch to Virat Kohli at third slip off an Umesh Yadav bouncer without a run being added to the overnight total.
The home pacers peppered the tail-enders with short ones even as Mushfiqur presented a mixed bag of composure and frustration to gather 25 runs.
Bangladesh’s slim hopes of avoiding an innings defeat ended when Mushfiqur (74) stepped out against Umesh and scooped a slower one to Ravindra Jadeja at cover.
Al-Amin — who was hit by an Umesh delivery that deflected off the batsman’s hand onto his helmet and scared the visiting camp of another concussion — swung his bat wildly to gather a few runs before being caught behind. He completed Umesh’s third five-wicket haul and the first in more than a year.
Ishant, who had taken five wickets in the first innings and scalped 12 in the series, grabbed the Man-of-the-Match and Man-of-the-Series awards.
It was a rare occasion when two Indian pacers returned five-fors and finished with a nine-wicket match haul.
Crowd support
After all the hype, the match turned out to be a lop-sided contest, a poor advertisement for the longer version of the game. Nevertheless, the BCCI’s pink-ball experiment provided some encouraging signs.
Spectators filled the stands in large numbers for the third successive day and the Indian team took a victory lap around the Eden Gardens to acknowledge the support for the five-day game in its new avatar.
Scoreboard
BANGLADESH – 1st innings 106
INDIA – 1st innings: 347 for nine decl.
BANGLADESH — 2nd innings: Shadman Islam lbw b Ishant 0 (5b), Imrul Kayes c Kohli b Ishant 5 (15b), Mominul Haque c Saha b Ishant 0 (6b), Mohammad Mithun c Shami b Umesh 6 (12b), Mushfiqur Rahim c Jadeja b Umesh 74 (96b, 13x4), Mahmudullah retd. hurt 39 (41b, 7x4), Mehidy Hasan c Kohli b Ishant 15 (22b, 2x4, 1x6), Taijul Islam c Rahane b Umesh 11 (24b, 1x4), Ebadot Hossain c Kohli b Umesh 0 (4b), Al-Amin Hossain c Saha b Umesh 21 (20b, 5x4), Abu Jayed (not out) 2 (2b); Extras (b-8, lb-9, w-5): 22;
Total (in 41.1 overs): 195.
FALL OF WICKETS : 1-0 (Shadman, 0.5 overs), 2-2 (Mominul, 2.5), 3-9 (Mithun, 5.2), 4-13 (Imrul, 6.4), 5-133 (Mehidy, 25.6), 6-152 (Taijul, 32.3), 7-152 (Ebadot, 34.1), 8-184 (Mushfiqur, 39.3), 9-195 (Al-Amin, 41.1)
INDIA BOWLING: Ishant 13-2-56-4, Umesh 14.1-1-53-5, Shami 8-0-42-0, Ashwin 5-0-19-0, Jadeja 1-0-8-0.
Man-of-the-match and series: Ishant Sharma.
India won by an innings and 46 runs to sweep the series 2-0.
