Ind vs Ban, 1st Test | India makes inroads as Bangladesh reach 176/3 at tea on day 4
The Hindu
The second session yielded only 52 runs and belonged to India, as Kuldeep Yadav and Umesh Yadav unsettled the Bangladesh batsmen on the fourth day of the first Test
Zakir Hasan batted with dogged determination but Kuldeep Yadav put India ahead by dismissing Litton Das as Bangladesh looked a tad unsettled having reached 176 for 3 at tea on the fourth day of opening Test on Saturday.
Zakir, who had recently played a big role in a drawn 'Test' against India A, showed admirable defensive technique to remain unbeaten on 82.
But it was left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep, who enticed the profligate Litton with a flighted delivery. The batter couldn't reach to the pitch of the delivery and an ugly scoop landed straight in the hands of Umesh Yadav at mid-on to provide India with an upper-hand after a wicket-less pre-lunch session.
Umesh also had a hand in drawing the first blood after a record opening stand of 124 between Zakir and Najmul Hossain Shanto (67).
Umesh finally got the breakthrough as Shanto's 156-ball resilience came to an end. A fuller delivery outside the off-stump found the left-handed opener poking at it indecisively. Shanto could have still been lucky as the ball popped out of first slip fielder Virat Kohli's grasp but Rishabh Pant dived full stretch to his left and caught it on second attempt.
The first blood did bring about a second success quickly as Axar Patel (15-5-22-1) bowled on off-middle channel and the burly Yasir Ali's wrong technique became his undoing. As he lunged forward to play the forward defensive shot, Yasir didn't cover his off-stump and was bowled.
Umesh (12-2-22-1) in the post-lunch session bowled a beautiful spell with the old Kookaburra, getting the odd ball to reverse and some of the deliveries that Zakir decided to leave on length could have hit the off-stump but he was lucky.