With over two days of play lost to rain, the Kanpur Test seemed to be headed in just one direction: a draw. However, India, with their eyes set ton reaching the final of the ICC World Test Championship, adopted a different approach and went with an all-out attack plan hoping to extract a result from the remaining six sessions of the contest. And the risk they took paid rich dividends as they blew away Bangladesh for a remarkable seven-wicket win and seal a 2-0 series win. While Rohit Sharma and Co. deserve all the plaudits for the manner in which they made it a contest out of nothing, Bangladesh’s poor batting hasn’t gone unnoticed which cleared up the path for India’s domination.
Bangladesh were bowled out for 233 in their first innings and fared even worse in their second dig in which they managed 146-all out. Their captain Najum Hossain Shanto was in the firing line after employing a reverse sweep against Ravindra Jadeja to be bowled on 19. His departure resulted in a collapse as Bangladesh slipped from 91/3 to 146-all out.
India batting legend Sunil Gavaskar was critical of Bangladesh’s batting display on while on air during the fifty day’s play and wondered if the visitors knew they are playing a Test match.
“I thought that maybe they forgot this is a Test match,” Gavaskar said. “There are plenty of days, and this is, of course, the last day.” “Some of the shots that we saw, from Shanto…when the shot comes off, it looks brilliant (but) when it doesn’t, you have to think, what have you tried to do?”
Bangladesh opener Shadman Islam capitalised from an early reprieve to score a solid half-century but soon ran out of patience when he went after a delivery that was moving away from the off-stump and the loose shot resulted in an edge with Yashasvi Jaiswal completing a fine catch at gully region.
“Then Shadman after reaching his half-century, playing a loose shot outside the off stump, these are things where he could have capitalised and gone on to get a hundred,” Gavaskar said.
India offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who was chosen as player-of-the-series, revealed the hosts were pondering over forfeiting an innings in their hopes of pushing for a result. “Yes, we discussed it. We were considering whether we should forfeit an innings, but the heat was so intense,” Ashwin said on JioCinema.
“These are harsh conditions—sweating profusely, I had to change shirts four times in a day, and it still wasn’t enough. It was especially tough on the fast bowlers, and even the spinners found it exhausting. If we got them out for another 200 runs, it would still mean spending five sessions on the field, which would be hard on the batters as well. So, we decided to bat and go after the bowling,” he added.
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