Zakir stands firm but India make inroads in afternoon session

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Tea Bangladesh 150 and 176 for 3 (Zakir 82*, Shanto 67, Axar 1-22, Umesh 1-22) trail India 404 and 258 for 2 dec by 336 runs

India prised out three wickets in the afternoon session on the fourth day of the Chattogram Test to get into a position of strength against Bangladesh.

Umesh Yadav first ended a stubborn opening stand of 124 – Bangladesh’s first century partnership for the opening wicket against India in Tests – by getting Najmul Hossain Shanto to nick behind. Just three overs later, Axar Patel zipped one past Yasir Ali’s defence to clean him up. And just minutes before tea, Litton Das gifted India a third when he lofted Kuldeep Yadav to mid-on.

However, debutant Zakir Hasan stood firm to frustrate India, ending the second session unbeaten on 82 off 195 deliveries. He ground out a defiant knock, even as the ball turned and bounced sharply on multiple occasions for the spinners, and a hint of reverse swing came into play for Umesh.

Bangladesh had begun the session at 119 without loss, and Umesh struck in the fifth over after resumption. It was a good-length ball that was pretty wide of off, but Shanto hung his bat out to nick out. The catch went to Virat Kohli at slip, and he palmed the ball diving to his right, but luckily for India, an alert Rishabh Pant dived backwards to cling on. Shanto back for a fighting 67.

Yasir Ali at No. 3 rather comfortably saw off his first 11 deliveries – although one of them dribbled between second and fourth slip – before a hint of turn for Axar was enough to dislodge the stumps. Axar darted in a good-length ball from around the wicket, pitching it on middle and off, and turning it away to crash into off stump. Yasir, who was defending that on middle perhaps not anticipating the turn, was left baffled.

The back-to-back strikes quietened things a bit for Bangladesh, with Zakir and Litton getting down for some repair work. However, Umesh came close to getting both batters with near-perfect deliveries. Just five balls after Yasir’s wicket, he angled one into Zakir from around the wicket, and the ball just zipped past off stump after Zakir had shouldered arms; two overs later, he beat Litton’s outside edge, with a fullish delivery holding its line on fifth stump as Umesh went wide of the crease.

But Zakir and Litton otherwise looked untroubled, even as India attacked with new-found rigour. KL Rahul had at least three men surrounding the batters when the spinners operated, as India dried up the runs after the two blows. Yet, Zakir retained his composure to keep finding the occasional boundary – the shot of the day came when he lofted Kuldeep over mid-of in the 65th over – while Litton also kept ticking the scoreboard over.

However, a well-settled Litton then fell to end a solid 42-run partnership – after being tied down by Kuldeep’s tight lines, he went attacking only to loft a catch to mid-on, which was placed a bit deeper than usual.

But nothing seemed to disturb Zakir, who had, during the morning session, dug deep to stitch together a big opening stand with Shanto, as India looked clueless and went wicketless.

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