Bangladesh are on the brink of a big embarrassment in their historic Test in India after being buried under a mountain of runs. For the second consecutive day in the Hyderabad Test against India, they were pummeled by the hosts, paying the price of their abysmal fielding and listless bowling. By the time when the second day’s play at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium ended, Bangladesh raced to 41 for one, trailing by a mammoth 646 runs. The visitors still needs 448 runs to avoid follow-on, a mighty task which looked improbable given the Hyderabad pitch historically favours the spinners on day three. It’s now down to the batsman to drag the side out of danger if they don’t want the historic Test turn out to be an embarrassment for them. Opener Tamim Iqbal was batting on 24 with Mominul Haque on 1. Soumya Sarkar was the only batsman to be out on 15 after India successfully called a video review which showed he got a bottom edge after nicking a 142 kph delivery off Umesh Yadav. Even though it was debatable if he nicked it or third umpire reviewed it rightly, Soumya’s lazy drive was the perfect picture of the team’s wayward attitude towards the Test to what was called a historic game. Five of the bowlers gave away more than 100 runs and to the ignominy of Bangladesh all of them were frontline bowlers. Indian skipper Virat Kohli who has been in the form of his life picked up another double century, his fourth double century in fourth straight series, breaking the record of Don Bradmand and Rahul Dravid’s three, amid Bangladesh’s shoddy fielding and clueless bowling. His double century was complemented by wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha’s century on day two, which became third century in India’s innings as the hosts compiled 687 for six, their highest against Bangladesh and fifth highest in their Test history, before declaring the innings one hour after tea.
After a nearly flawless innings, Kohli was out on 204, trying to late cut fuller delivery of Taijul Islam on off-stump. Indian captain who won a video review on 180, did not review it much to the delight of Bangladesh. If he reviewed it, he could have got another life because the video replay showed that his pad was outside of the off-stump. Kohli’s scintillating 204, studded with 24 fours out of the 246 deliveries he faced followed his double centuries against West Indies, New Zealand and England in the last seven months. Five out of India’s top six batsmen registered 80-plus scores to help India become the first team to rack up 600-plus totals in three consecutive Tests. On day one opener Lokesh Rahul scored 108 and on day two Wriddhiman Saha scored a fluent 106 not out.
After India resumed day two on 356 for three, boundaries continued to flow from Kohli’s bat, the most majestic of them being a glorious on-drive off Taskin Ahmed’s bowling. The Indian skipper was ably supported by Ajinkya Rahane who returned from a finger injury to hit 82 before Mehedi Hasan Miraj took a brilliant diving catch at short cover off Taijul Islam to send him back.
Kohli brought up his double hundred with his 24th boundary, a mishit over extra cover that raced to the fence, but fell shortly after that to Taijul. It was Kohli’s fifth consecutive hundred which he converted into a 150-plus score. Wriddhiman Saha stayed on course for his second Test hundred to take India a position of utter dominance. He shared two crucial partnerships — 74 for the sixth wicket with Ravichandran Ashwin (34) and unbeaten 118 with Ravindra Jadeja (60 not out). Left arm spinner Taijul Islam was the pick of Bangladeshi bowler, claiming three for 156 while off-spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraj snared two for 165.