Bangladesh battered by India as ignominious defeat on day 5 looms large in Kanpur Test
By stumps, Bangladesh ended the day at 26 for 2 in the second innings, trailing India by a further 26.
After two rainy, non-cricket days at Green Park, Kanpur sprung to life on sunny Monday with a speedy India breaking a few Test records. Rohit Sharma extended his white-ball cricket template that has given him immense success in the last couple of years to red-ball cricket, as he cracked 23 off 11 balls, with rest of the India line-up following suit. That approach saw them register the fastest team 50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 in men's Tests, and declare their first innings on 285 for 9 in just 34.4 overs after Bangladesh were bowled out for 233.
By stumps, R Ashwin managed to trap Zakir Hasan lbw, and bowled nightwatcher Hasan Mahmud, even as Shadman Islam survived a dropped chance on 3, as Bangladesh ended the day at 26 for 2 in the second innings, trailing India by a further 26.
Earlier, Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul scored quickfire fifties for India, striking at 141.17 and 158.13, respectively, to give Indian bowlers another shot at Bangladesh's batters in the dying hours of the penultimate day of the Test. Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Shakib Al Hasan picked up four wickets apiece on a surface that showed enough signs of spin.
With the sun finally beating down after successive days of overcast conditions and rain, the pitch showed signs of better carry in the first session. But the inherent nature of the black-soil surface meant a few deliveries did keep a tad low.
None of that mattered for Jaiswal, who kickstarted India's response with a hat-trick of fours off Hasan Mahmud, who had picked up a five-for in Chennai. At the other end, Rohit thumped the first two balls he faced for sixes, first jumping down the track to fast bowler Khaled Ahmed to deposit him over long-on, before pulling one into the deep-square leg stands. The pair hit two fours and two sixes more to bring up India's fifty in just three overs.
In a bid to slow India down, Bangladesh brought Mehidy on, and though he was greeted with a four clubbed through midwicket, he almost struck fourth ball when Rohit was ruled out lbw. But Rohit reviewed and survived, with the ball hitting him outside the line of leg. On the next ball, though, Mehidy had the last laugh, getting one flighted delivery to keep low and spin back in sharply through Rohit's defence.
That did not deter Jaiswal, who went on a rampage against spin. India managed to hit at least one four in each of overs six to 12. In the process, Jaiswal brought up a 31-ball fifty and India got to 100 in just 10.1 overs. He used his reach well to put the spinners off their lengths, the highlight being a biggie he smoked over long-on off Mehidy, who also got the ball to dip in on a fullish length. However, the low bounce of the surface came into play when Mahmud's length ball stayed a bit low to clatter into Jaiswal's stumps, and dismiss him for 72.