KANPUR, India (AP) — India sealed a 2-0 series win over Bangladesh on Tuesday after a dramatic turnaround in the second cricket test following 2 1/2 days of play lost because of rain or a wet outfield.
Chasing 95 for victory, India finished on 98-3 in 17.2 overs to win the match on Day 5 by seven wickets.
Yashasvi Jaiswal (51) and Virat Kohli (29 not out) put on 58 off 67 balls for the third wicket of the second innings. India lost Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill cheaply, but had no major issues chasing down the target before tea.
Paceman Jasprit Bumrah and spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin had each taken three wickets to help bundle Bangladesh out for 146 earlier Tuesday in the second innings, leaving India two sessions to get the runs required to complete a series sweep.
Ashwin was named player of the series for 11 wickets in two tests, and a match-winning hundred in Chennai. He tied Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan for most player of the series awards in test cricket – 11.
India won the first test by 280 runs. A three-match Twenty20 series between India and Bangladesh will start Sunday.
“Once we lost 2 1/2 days, we wanted to get them out quickly on Day 4 and see what we could do with the bat … it was about how many overs we needed in the second innings, which meant we had to try and up the run rate, scoring as many (runs) as possible quickly,” India captain Rohit Sharma said.
“This pitch didn’t have a lot for the bowlers. To make a game of it then was a superb effort from the bowlers. And the batters of course, they bought into the mindset of attacking and getting runs as quickly as possible.”
India set up a series sweep when it scored runs quickly and declared at 285-9 late on Day 4 — blitzing Bangladesh’s bowling from the start and recording the fastest 50 in tests off only 18 deliveries — to take a first-innings lead of 52.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz took 2-44 and dismissed both Sharma (8) and Gill (6) in India’s otherwise comfortable run chase. He also had a leg-before-wicket decision against Kohli turned down on review.
Player of the match Jaiswal hit eight fours and a six in his second half-century of the test after 72 in the first innings. He was caught off Taijul Islam on the cusp of victory.
Rishabh Pant scored the winning runs. Kohli’s 37-ball knock included four boundaries.
Momentum had gone in India’s favor on the fifth morning of the match.
Jadeja took 3-34 as Bangladesh lost four wickets for three runs and eventually lost its last seven wickets for 110. Ashwin returned 3-50, and Bumrah snared 3-17 in 10 overs.
Most of the first day and all of the second and third days of the test were washed out, leaving little prospect for a result in Kanpur unless something dramatic happened.
And so play had resumed on Day 4 with India making a charge for victory in search of valuable World Test Championship points – 437 runs were scored for 18 wickets in 85 overs.
Resuming Day 5 on 26-2, Bangladesh lost first-inning century maker Mominul Haque (2) when he was caught off Ashwin’s bowling with the addition of 10 to the total.
Opener Shadman Islam added 55 with skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto for the fourth wicket. In doing so, Islam scored 50 off 101 balls, becoming the first Bangladesh opener to score a test half-century on Indian soil.
But he couldn’t regain concentration and was out soon after, with Jaiswal taking a fine catch at gully off pace bowler Akash Deep.
Just six balls earlier, Jadeja bowled Shanto for 19 runs and the batting collapse was underway.
Litton Das was caught behind off Jadeja, and Shakib al Hasan returned a simple catch for a two-ball duck in what could be his last test innings.
Jadeja picked three wickets in three overs as Bangladesh slumped to 94-7.
Bumrah then had Miraz (9) caught behind and trapped Islam lbw for a duck.
Veteran batter Mushfiqur Rahim hung in for a determined 37 off 63 balls as India desperately searched for the last wicket in an extended three-hour session.
Rahim threw it away on the final ball pre-lunch, going for a wild swipe off Bumrah and was bowled.
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