5 Highlights of the One-Off Test Match between India and Bangladesh

Rain played spoilsports as the only-Test ended in a draw

In what turned out to be a rain-curtailed Test match, India posted a total of 462 runs in the first innings and Bangladesh, in reply, were all out for 256. Having been asked to follow-on, Bangladesh scored 23 from 15 overs without losing a wicket before the umpires called it a day.

While the monsoon has clearly spoilt Kohli’s maiden outing as India’s new test captain, here are a few key highlights from the one-off test at Fatullah.

The five bowler strategy:

Just before the test started, Captain Virat Kohli was mulling playing an extra bowler to better India’s chances at taking 20 wickets in the test match. Although traditionally, India has often stuck to the 7-4 combination, Kohli finally bucked the trend when the final XI was announced for the Fatullah test and both Harbhajan Singh and Ravichandran Ashwin were picked in the side.

Even though India have preferred playing an extra batsman lest the top order collapses, it has brought little success to the bowling department with the team failing to pick 20 wickets in a test match in the recent past.

Not only has that seriously crippled India’s chances of winning a test but has also rendered the captain helpless at times when couple of bowlers are having a bad day on the field. Hence, cover for the bowlers seems to be a logical ploy. Numbers suggest that since January 2014, India have picked 20 wickets only twice - Once at Lord’s and the other time in Auckland.

Judging by the nature of the surface at Fatullah, Kohli opted for an extra spinner over an extra seamer and its already reaped dividends as spinners ruled the roost picking up all 3 Bangladesh wickets on Day 4. With Kohli calling the shots as the new captain, expect to see India trying out the five bowler strategy more often in test cricket.

Shikhar Dhawan’s return to form:

Dhawan missed out on his double as he got out after making 173

Having struggled to put the bat on ball during the last test series Down Under, Shikhar Dhawan wasn’t an obvious starter in the playing XI for the one-off test against Bangladesh. Nevertheless, a bout of dengue meant that KL Rahul was forced to sit out of the test match thereby making way for Dhawan.

Fighting a recent slump in form, Dhawan seemed to be in a pugnacious mood from the offset and put the bowlers to sword. Playing true to his style, he scored a quick-fire 173 of 195 balls which included 23 hits to the fence. However, he was unfortunate to miss out on a deserving double ton holding out to Shakib-Al-Hasan off his own bowling.

He may have scored those runs on a flat batting surface and against an opposition like Bangladesh but Dhawan’s return to form is clearly a good sign for India who would be playing a lot of five-day cricket at home later this year.

That said, KL Rahul too deserves an extended run in the side after a good show with the bat in the series Down Under. With Murali Vijay scoring tons of runs at the top, it will be a toss-up between KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan when the selectors sit down to choose the team for the next test series.

Highest run-getter for Bangladesh in Test Cricket:

Tamim is leading Test run scorer for Bangladesh

Tamim Iqbal became the highest run-scorer for Bangladesh in Test Cricket surpassing Habibul Bashar who had held the record for over 14 years. Tamim reached the milestone when he scored 7 runs on the fourth morning against India. He now has 3039 runs from 40 tests; 13 more than Bashar’s 3026 from 50 tests. Tamim has seven centuries and 17 fifties from 40 tests. Tamim Iqbal (4437) is also the highest run scorer for Bangladesh in ODIs.

While his fans want him to get past the 10,000 run landmark in test cricket, Tamim Iqbal reckons that it would be difficult to reach there, given the limited number of test matches Bangladesh play every year.

100th Test Wicket at Home:

Shakib-Al-Hasan took his 100th Test wicket

Ace Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib-Al-Hasan claimed his 100th victim at the home on day three of the one-off test against India. Shakib returned with impressive match figures of 4/105 and accounted for the wickets of both Indian openers. He also got rid of Rohit Sharma and ruined Rahane’s chances of getting a hundred, bowling him out for 98.

Shakib now has 142 wickets from 39 test matches; 101 of which have come in 28 matches at home. He is also the leading wicket-taker for Bangladesh in test cricket.

A Specialist Leggie at-last:

Young leg-spinner Jubair Hossain became the first specialist leggie to be selected in a Bangladesh Test side when his name was added to the 14-man squad for the first test against Zimbabwe last year.

Ever since, he has only played 3 test matches in which he took 11 wickets at an economy rate of 3.83. The Fatullah Test against India is his fourth and although, he has picked only two wickets conceding 113 runs at an economy rate of 5.94, the young leg-spinner has shown a lot of potential and can become a wicket-taking option for Bangladesh if he can get his line and length right.