Rohit Sharma-led India defeated Bangladesh by seven wickets in the second Test on Tuesday (October 1) to sweep the two-match IND vs BAN series.
Set a modest target of 95 runs in 62 overs, the Indian team crossed the finish line in the 18th over. Rohit Sharma swung his bat right from the start but couldn’t last long. Mehidy Hasan Miraz sent it back for 8. Then spinner Shubman struck again to get Gill (6) out cheaply, leaving India two behind at 34 in the 5th over.
However, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli did not allow Bangladesh to progress further. Jaiswal went on to score his second half-century of the game and shared a 58-run stand with Kohli. With India needing just 3 runs to win, Taijul was dismissed for 51 by Islam. Kohli and Rishabh Pant then took the team to the finish line.
Earlier in the day, Bangladesh started their day on 26. It was up to them to give their team a solid start. However, Ravichandran Ashwin struck in the third over of the day to send Mominul back.
Islam and captain Najmul Hossain Shanto then steadied the ship with more than 50 stands. However, before he could bat his team to a safe position, Ravindra Jadeja broke the stand, leaving Shanto for 19.
A dismissal opened the door as Bangladesh lost three more wickets in quick succession to trail from 91/3 to 94/7. Mushfigur Rahim then put up some resistance with the bat, scoring 37 but finding little support from the other end.
In the end, Bangladesh were bowled out for just 146 runs. Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah and Jadeja took three wickets each for India.
Early days but off to a good start: Rohit Sharma
Speaking after the brilliant win, India captain Rohit Sharma spoke of the positive start under new coach Gautam Gambhir. At the same time, Rohit said that the team had a fantastic time under his leadership and expressed his respect for former coach Rahul Dravid.
“We all move on. Obviously at some stage we had to start with different personnel. When Rahul bhai said he was done here. We had a fantastic time but life goes on. Gautam Gambhir, I played with him and I know. What kind of mindset in the early days coming, but it was a good start,” said Rohit Sharma.
Speaking later, Rohit Sharma shared the team’s mindset after the second and third days were washed out and said:
“Once we lost two-and-a-half days, when we came on Day 4 we wanted to get them out as soon as possible and see what we could do with the bat. When they got to 230, it wasn’t about us at all. We get the runs, but we get them,” he said.
Rohit also said that India are willing to take the risk of going out with a low score in the first innings. He said the team was ready to challenge 100-150 to get as many overs as possible even in the second innings. Rohit Sharma also praised Akash Deep for his heroics.
“There wasn’t much on the pitch. It was a great effort to make a play on that pitch. It was a risk we were willing to take because when you try to bat like that, you might be out of the team for a while. Even if we lost by 100-150, we were ready for it,” said Rohit Sharma.
“He’s been good (talking about Akash Deep). He’s played a lot of domestic cricket. When you come through the ranks like that, there’s a lot of gaps in the legs. He’s got quality and skill. He’s got a good body. He’s good – you can do long spells.
