Nothing is as boring as a drawn Test match. But India still tried their best to force a result in the one-off Test against Bangladesh in Fatullah. After declaring the innings at 462 for six, the Indian bowlers, spearheaded by R Ashwin’s beautiful spell, did well to apply pressure on the Bangladesh, but it wasn’t enough to get a result due to incessant rainfall. In total, it was a complete waste of effort.
The Test match had tremendous potential get a result after India scored those runs, but it was not meant to be. The stand out performer of this Test match was Ashwin. This was same the bowler who struggled to get wickets on foreign soil despite bowling well in the past. Against Bangladesh, he was rewarded with five wickets in the first innings and showed why he is the best off-spinner in India.
Experienced off-spinner Harbhajan Singh too had a very decent Test comeback after he picked three wickets in Bangladesh’s first innings. His first two wickets were of the top Bangladeshi batsmen. It was combined effort of these two-off spinners which helped India to enforce Bangladesh follow-on.
The hosts fell short by eight runs and were asked to bat again in the second innings. With several Test matches coming up in the sub-continent, this augurs well for India that both the Indian spin duo are shaping up decently.
Besides that, this Test match also highlighted a certain positives for Team India. One of them is the emergence of Ajinkya Rahane in the role of a solid middle-order batsman. He seems to be improving with every match and can fit into any role.
If the match situation demands him to stay calm and play sensibly, he can do it with ease. Right now, Rahane is making it a habit. At the top of the order, the form of Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan is also adding a lot of power to the Indian batting line-up.
Ultimately, no team can survive without getting good starts. Even the middle-order is hungry for runs and it’s only a matter of time when the likes of Kohli and Rohit Sharma get into the act to score consistently.
