Tigers hope for a miracle

At one point, it seemed like Bangladesh had no hope of finding a way back into their two-match Test series against India as they were only leading by 72 runs with only three wickets in hand.

But from there, Liton Das and Taskin Ahmed put together 60 runs, a partnership that pulled them back into the game.

Liton’s 73, along with Taskin’s unbeaten 31, allowed them a lead of 144 runs. That meant India did not only have to bat again, they had to achieve a sizeable target on a difficult Mirpur pitch to win the series 2-0.

And then, the bowlers, especially Mehidy Hasan Miraz, came to the party and Bangladesh picked up four wickets by the time the third day came to a close.

Shakib drew first blood to get KL Rahul (2), and then Miraz scalped off Cheteshwar Pujara (6), Shubhman Gill (7), and Virat Kohli (1) to reduce India to 45-4, meaning the visitors would have to score 100 more on the fourth day to seal the win.

Axar Patel is set on 26 at the crease, alongside nightwatchman Jaydev Unadkat (3*), but yet, Liton believed they had the upper hand.

“At this moment, we are ahead and they are under pressure. Of course, it’s possible for us to win if we can take a couple of wickets early. It doesn’t matter how many good batters they have, when they don’t have wickets, it’s difficult to do whatever they want to.

“They have Rishabh (Pant) and (Shreyas) Iyer. They are good players, but will be under pressure,” the Bangladesh batter said after the day’s play.

Indian pacer Mohammad Siraj, on the other hand, said there was nothing much to worry about as Pant and Iyer were yet to come.

“We shouldn’t think too much. Only four wickets have fallen. There are still 80-odd (100) to score. Axar is one with positive intent and playing positively, batters get set and we shouldn’t take too much pressure,” he said.

The day started all doom and gloom for Bangladesh as they lost opener Najmul Hossain Shanto (5) in the second over of the day as Ravichandran Ashwin trapped him LBW.

While Zakir Hasan continued on carrying his fine domestic run of form to the international arena and went past 50 once again, he was running out of partners at the other end as Mominul Haque (5), Shakib (13), and Mushfiqur Rahim (9) departed without contributing much.

Right after his fifty though, Zakir (51) gifted his wicket to Umesh Yadav as he tried to slash a wide one, giving a catch to Siraj at deep third man.

Miraz fell soon, but the counter-attack started as soon as Nurul Hasan Sohan walked in. His stand of 46 runs with Liton came in 48 balls, with Nurul scoring 31 off 29 balls, hitting two fours and a six.

Liton also started accelerating at the same time as he reached fifty off 74 balls but scored his next 23 runs in 24 before getting bowled by a brilliant incoming delivery from Siraj.

The same attacking approach was seen in Taskin’s batting, who scored 31 off 46 balls, hitting four fours.

“It is a wicket where if you try to stay, you will get beaten. What is needed here is runs. I told that to (Nurul Hasan) Sohan bhai and Taskin. It didn’t matter how they come as long as they did. There is a difference in scoring 100 and 150. We were successful in attacking,” he said.

Once India came out to bat, they looked all jittery as Shakib rapped the first ball on Rahul’s pad. The umpire said no and so did the review, but it looked like India were too cautious.

In his next over, Shakib got Rahul, and exactly five overs on, Pujara tried to come out and smother Miraz, an attempt which only got him stumped.

Gill tried the same and was beaten to get stumped, before Kohli, who played 22 balls to score one, inside-edged one to Mominul at short leg, who took a brilliant catch.

For a win, the equation is simple for Bangladesh. They will need to get Pant and Iyer for cheap, or else the duo that tormented them in the first innings would do it again.

And to end the year on a high, they must not let that happen.