Unadkat and Ashwin remove Bangladesh openers in testing first ...

22 Dec 2022

ESPNcricinfo.com

Unadkat and Ashwin remove Bangladesh openers in testing first

India kept Bangladesh under constant pressure but missed chances ensured they went to lunch just two down

Lunch Bangladesh 82 for 2 (Mominul 23*, Shakib 16*, Unadkat 1-20, Ashwin 1-30) vs India

Playing his first Test in 12 years, and only his second overall, Jaydev Unadkat picked up his maiden wicket in the format while R Ashwin added one to his ever-growing tally to have Bangladesh 82 for 2 at lunch on the opening day of the second Test in Dhaka.

It could have been worse for the hosts, though. After they opted to bat, Zakir Hasan offered a chance off the first ball of the second over, flicking a length ball from Umesh Yadav uppishly towards deep-backward square leg. But Mohammed Siraj, running to his right from fine leg, put down the chance.

Both Umesh and Siraj found movement with the new ball, but neither really pitched it up to fully exploit the grassy pitch. That resulted in a lot of plays-and-misses, and Zakir and Najmul Hossain Shanto survived the new-ball spells.

Bowling first change, Unadkat, the slowest of the three Indian seamers, didn't find as much movement but his higher release point meant he got extra bounce from the surface. Soon, he was bowling with four slips, a gully and a short leg, and hitting batters on the gloves regularly.

With Bangladesh on 39, Zakir decided to cut a short-of-length delivery from Unadkat, only to be done in by the extra bounce. The ball hit him on the glove and lobbed to fourth slip, giving Unadkat his first wicket in Test cricket.

In the next over, Shanto shouldered arms to a length ball from Ashwin, playing for turn only for the ball to go with the arm from round the wicket and strike him on the pad. He was given out lbw on the field, and a review returned an umpire's call verdict with ball-tracking suggesting the ball would have tickled off stump.

Coming in at No. 4, Shakib counterattacked and hit Ashwin for a four and a six early in his innings. But both he and Mominul Haque enjoyed slices of luck too. Mominul's attempted cut against the offspinner flew between the wicketkeeper and slip, and then in the last over before lunch, Pant missed a difficult leg-side stumping when Shakib charged at Ashwin.

Bangladesh made two changes to their XI, bringing in Mominul for Yasir Ali and Taskin Ahmed for Ebadot Hossain, who has a back injury. With Shakib expected to bowl in this game, Bangladesh had three spinners and two spinners in their attack.

India, meanwhile, read the pitch differently and replaced Kuldeep Yadav, the Player of the Match in the first Test, with Unadkat. Between Unadkat's two appearances, India played 118 Tests, the second-most missed games for any Test cricketer.