India’s home dominance continues unabated after Virat Kohli and his men stitched together a victory by an innings and 130 runs in the first Test against Bangladesh in Indore.
It took all of three days for the hosts to wrap up a commanding win as they maintained their perfect card in the inaugural ICC World Test Championship.
On Day Three, skipper Kohli opted to declare India’s first-innings at their overnight total of 493-6, leaving Bangladesh with a 353-run deficit to climb in their second go with the bat.
The Tigers, however, were unable to surmount that mammoth lead as they folded for 213 runs to hand India a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
Pace rules again against Bangla batsmen
2019 is the best year for fast bowlers in last 105 years. The strike rate of pacers in Tests this year is 48.4, the best since 1913. Lot of credit for this goes to India's pace attack - 76 wickets this year at a strike-rate of 33.7. #IndvBD
— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) November 16, 2019
Bangladesh had lost seven wickets to pace in their first-innings and their second outing turned out to be a carbon copy in that regard, as Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma ran riot once again.
Day three’s morning session was all about seam and swing with India’s pace trio knocking over Bangladesh’s top-order in no time. It was Shami who turned out to be the chief architect of their downfall, with the 29-year-old claiming four wickets to further bolster his impeccable second-innings record.
He was complemented perfectly by Yadav and Sharma with the Tigers being reduced to 44-4 by the 15th over of the innings. There was no coming back for the visitors from that point on, India duly completing formalities in the final session of the day.
Once again, seven wickets fell to the three seamers with India’s spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja taking a backseat for once in home conditions.
Mushfiqur Rahim wages lone battle for Tigers
Rahim the only one to show fight. Image credit – BCB.
Bangladesh had been handicapped severely even before they arrived in India, with star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan copping a one-year suspension while their veteran opener Tamim Iqbal pulled out of the tour due to personal reasons.
The absence of key men showed in their shambolic batting displays in both innings, where only Mushfiqur Rahim was able to muster any form of resistance. The wicketkeeper batsman showed the value of a solid defence as he thwarted India’s bowling attack for 150 balls in the second innings.
Having top-scored for the visitors with 43 in the first innings, Mushfiqur was at it again as he brought up a well-deserved half-century on the third day. The 32-year-old was looking set for a big score, but regular fall of wickets at the other end forced his hand as he attempted an ambitious shot against Ashwin in the final session of the day.
A brilliant catch by Cheteshwar Pujara cut short his 62-run vigil at the crease though the wicketkeeper can still hold his head high after what was another sorry effort with the bat by the Tigers.
Kohli’s perfect 10
Bat once, win big: Virat Kohli has made it a habit ☝️https://t.co/9RCgzHPTD5 | #INDvBAN pic.twitter.com/MvrCAm9Mjs
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) November 16, 2019
While his innings in the match might have ended in a duck, Kohli’s imperious reign as India’s Test skipper keeps getting better and better with each passing series.
The innings victory was the third on the trot that his No1 ranked team have now recorded after similar margins of victory in the second and third Tests against South Africa recently.
That means India have now won a Test by over an innings on 10 separate occasions under Kohli’s captaincy. No other Indian skipper has managed that many, with MS Dhoni’s nine victories being the previous best.
It was also India’s 32nd win overall under Kohli in just 52 matches and the India superstar now needs just one more victory to become the fourth most successful Test skipper in history.
Only Graeme Smith (53), Ricky Ponting (48), Steve Waugh (41) and Clive Llyod (36) have garnered more Test wins than Virat who is currently tied in fifth spot alongside Allan Border.
