Shakib Al Hasan-led Bangladesh face an uphill task to avoid follow-on as they lost eight wickets on Day 2 in a matter of a session and a half. Mohammed Siraj was exceptional with the new ball whereas Kuldeep Yadav made an emphatic comeback as Bangladesh found themselves 133 for eight wickets at the end of Day 2's play in Chattogram.
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After Ravichandran Ashwin and Kuldeep's 92-run partnership helped India post a good first innings total of 404, Bangladesh suffered a top-order collapse. In the second session, Siraj started off with the wicket of opener Najmul Hossain Shanto off the first ball of the innings. Siraj joined elite list of Indian bowlers like Kapil Dev, Zaheer Khan and others who have taken a wicket straight away. Umesh Yadav struck too as he forced an inside edge off Yasir Ali's bat (4). At tea break, Bangladesh were 37/2 and it seemed like Litton Das and Zakir Hasan have helped Bangladesh recover from early blows.
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In the third session, Siraj was brought back into the attack by KL Rahul and he riled up Das. The Bangladesh batter got distracted and lost his wicket on the following delivery. He scored 24 runs from 30 deliveries. Siraj struck again in his second spell. Zakir edged one to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant and got out after scoring 20 runs from 45 deliveries.
After a gritty knock of 40 at no.9, Kuldeep struck in the first over he bowled in the innings. Skipper Shakib (3) shimmied down the track and edged it to first slip fielder Virat Kohli. Nurul Hasan was given a second chance by Ashwin who could not get to the ball. But Kuldeep got his man as Shubman Gill took a sharp catch at short leg. The wicketkeeper-batter scored 16 runs from 22 deliveries.
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In his next over, he ended Mushfiqur's ressistance as well. He got out leg before wicket. The veteran batter scored 28 runs from 58 deliveries. Once, again it is on Mehidy Hasan Miraz to rescue Bangladesh from an embarrassing situation. Mehidy remained unbeaten for 16 runs from 35 deliveries. On the other end, Ebadot Hossain scored 13 runs from 27 deliveries.
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Bangladesh need 72 more runs to avoid follow-on. It will be interesting to see if they will be able to survive the first session on Day 3. Also, if Rahul justifies the ultra-aggressive approach he talked about in the pre-match press conference and enforces follow-on instead of batting and setting a massive target.
