India squeak home against Bangladesh in second Test, but it’s no reason to revel
In the end, India managed to squeak home, but only just. It needed the class of Shreyas Iyer and the composure of R Ashwin, not to mention occasional slices of luck, to get the job done in Mirpur on Christmas Sunday, but the result should not paper over several of the glaring cracks that have appeared on the Test firmament.
The nervy three-wicket victory in the second Test on a tricky Day Four-surface helped India maintain their unbeaten record against Bangladesh and keep their quest for a place in the final of the World Test Championship firmly alive. Currently perched second, India must win three of their four home Tests against table-toppers Australia in February-March to advance on their own steam. The events of the past fortnight in Bangladesh suggest that will be anything but straightforward.
Also read: With Test championship at stake, India can’t take Bangladesh series lightly
India deserve great credit for the resilience and spark shown in Mirpur on the fourth morning when, in the quest for 145, they resumed on 45 for four. At 74 for seven, they looked out for the count when Iyer and Ashwin pieced together a remarkable partnership marked by caution at the start and increasing flair and authority as they homed in on the target. Bangladesh tried everything at their disposal in their hunt for their most famous Test victory but not for the first time, they came second-best in a tense finish against their illustrious neighbours. This defeat will rankle for a long time.
Gaps in batting order
What Bangladesh managed over the two Tests was to expose old Indian failings. Most of these begin and end at the top of the order. Specifically, with KL Rahul and Virat Kohli.
In four Tests this year, Rahul, standing in as captain for the injured Rohit Sharma, has managed just 137 runs at 17.12; he hasn’t crossed 25 in his last seven innings. As much as the lack of returns, his nervous, hesitant, uncertain ways against the new ball haven’t exactly infused confidence in the dressing-room, and beyond. The team management understandably has backed him to the hilt; his immense skill and how few others have done more to nudge him out have been bandied around. Maybe it will have to sing a different tune now, what with Shubman Gill grabbing his chances with a second-innings hundred in Chattogram. How will Rahul Dravid, for instance, justify leaving Gill out in favour of Rahul for the Australia Tests, assuming Rohit turns up fit by then? How long before the think-tank faces strident questions on whether their faith in the Karnataka opener is misplaced?
Kohli’s Test drought
Kohli’s is a more intriguing and long-term topic of debate. He ended a run of more than 1,000 days without an international century in the T20 Asia Cup Dubai in September, and followed it up with a 50-over ton in Bangladesh earlier this month. But in Test cricket, his returns have been astonishingly poor for an extended period. Since the beginning of 2020, in 20 Tests, the former skipper has managed a mere 917 runs at an anaemic average of 26.20. He has topped fifty just six times in 36 innings, and hasn’t made it to the 80s even once. At one point, it might have been considered outrageous to question his continued presence in the playing XI, but that point has long passed.
Also read: Also read: Ishan Kishan’s record double ton gives India 227-run win over Bangladesh
With two of their most experienced batsmen struggling to piece together one effort worth the name, it was no surprise that India were off to horror starts. Apart from the second innings in Chattogram where both Gill and the impressive Cheteshwar Pujara, capping his second wind with the Player of the Series award, slammed hundreds, India’s middle order was put under immense pressure by the misfiring top. In the first innings of the first Test, India slipped to 48 for three; in the two innings in Mirpur, they stumbled to 72 for three and 29 for three respectively.
To their tremendous relief, the irrepressible Rishabh Pant and the increasingly dependable Iyer bailed them out time after time, but should it be like that always? When does accountability start to extend beyond the sacked national selection panel still in place, even though it’s been nearly a month since the deadline for fresh applications expired and there is no sign of the new committee taking charge?
Shabby decision-making
The end might appear to justify the means, but what about the axing for the second Test of Kuldeep Yadav, the left-arm wrist spinner who took eight wickets in the first Test and was named Player of the Match in his first five-day game since February 2021? The unorthodox left-arm spinner is a precious commodity whose career has seen more downs than ups. Since his debut in March 2017, he has played a mere eight Tests, taking 34 wickets; damningly, the 28-year-old hasn’t ever played two Tests in a row.
An acknowledged match-winner who can make things happen because of his unique style of bowling, he has often been put out to pasture. It’s a tribute to his strength of character that he has managed to keep himself relevant despite shabby treatment from successive sets of decision-makers whose ‘double standards’ when it comes to making judgement calls hasn’t gone down too well with aficionados, among them Sunil Gavaskar and Harbhajan Singh.
It might seem petulant, if not downright puerile, to highlight the negatives from a series that ended 2-0 in the visiting side’s favour, but notwithstanding Bangladesh’s combativeness in their own backyard, India have only themselves to blame for making this a thrilling outing. Who knows what might have happened, for instance, had Mominul Haque, who held two excellent catches at short-leg, not put Ashwin down at that same position on Sunday when the batsman had yet to get off the mark?
The one thing that’s apparent is that India don’t play the turning ball with anywhere near the same felicity as they once did. It’s not a new development; since the golden generation of Indian batting hung up its boots, India have found quality spin on responsive tracks a hazardous proposition. If they insist on, and get, turners at home against Australia, ace offie Nathan Lyon will fancy his chances of devouring them. Now, that’s another conundrum for Dravid to grapple with.
