On his return to Test cricket after an absence of 12 years, Jaydev Unadkat claimed the wicket of Zakir Hasan while Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed Najmul Hossain Shanto as Bangladesh reached 82/2 against India at lunch in the second Test at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
After the fall of the openers, captain Shakib Al Hasan (16 not out) and Mominul Haque (23 not out) steadied the ship with an unbroken 43-run partnership in a session where India asked many questions, beat the edges constantly, and got extra bounce too.
Pushed into bowling first, India gave Hasan a reprieve when Mohammed Siraj dropped a diving catch at fine-leg off Umesh Yadav. On a pitch that has some grass, Siraj and Umesh were getting a bit of lateral movement and were beating the edge of Zakir and Shanto constantly, even squaring them up on a few occasions.
Due to Siraj and Umesh making the ball talk, Zakir and Shanto got some streaky boundaries, flying off the outside edge through the region between slip and gully.
Unadkat, replacing Kuldeep Yadav in the playing eleven in a surprise call, got the ball to bounce a bit more, hit the batters on their gloves a couple of times, and got the ball to come in from outside off stump.
Ashwin got a turn and bounce in his very first over, but the watchful duo of Zakir and Shanto managed to survive the first hour, with some gorgeous drives in between. India’s perseverance finally paid off when Unadkat’s short-of-length ball, seaming in, had the extra bounce and took the glove edge off Zakir to the fourth slip, giving the left-arm pacer his first Test wicket.
One brought two for India as Shanto offered no shot to a full delivery from Ashwin that came back in to trap the opener lbw. Mominul, back in the eleven for Bangladesh, brought out the drive and flick against overpitched deliveries.
Shakib used his feet well to loft Ashwin over extra cover for four and then smacked a six-over deep mid-wicket. He went on to survive a stumping chance off Ashwin before the session came to an end.
Brief scores: Bangladesh 82/2 in 28 overs (Najmul Hossain Shanto 24, Mominul Haque 23 not out; Jaydev Unadkat 1-20, Ravichandran Ashwin 1-30) against India
