Umesh, Ishant star as India whitewash Bangladesh 2-0 in Kolkata
India continued their dominating run at home in Test cricket with an innings and 46-run win over Bangladesh in the Day-Night Test at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. With the win, the hosts completed another series whitewash on the trot and their fourth consecutive innings win in whites to extend their lead at the top of the World Test Championship table.
India now have 360 points from 7 games in the WTC and are 244 points ahead of second-placed Australia.
With Bangladesh resuming their second innings at 152 for six on day three and trailing India by 89 runs, it was simply a matter of time for the home team to complete formalities.
The Virat Kohli-led side eventually completed the job for in less than 50 minutes for their four straight innings victory, becoming the first team do so. Barring Mushfiqur Rahim (74), Bangladesh batsmen were once again found wanting against high quality pace bowling, folding up for 195 in 41.1 overs. They were bowled out for 130 on day one.
With the resounding win, India also extended their lead in the World Test Championship by collecting 120 points from the two-match series. India had hammered Bangladesh by an innings and 130 runs in the series opener in Indore.
Eden Gardens played the perfect host for the historic game with packed crowds on all three days bringing back memories of the times when Test cricket was more popular. However, the lack of competition on the field was nowhere close to the hype surrounding the game.
The SG pink ball, which had not been tested in a competitive game before the big game, expectedly assisted India's lethal pace attack which took all the wickets on offer. An evidence of their menacing form was the amount of concussion subs Bangladesh had to use after the batsmen received heavy blows.
While Ishant Sharma took a five-wicket haul in the first innings, Umesh Yadav did the same in the second.
The game will also be remembered for Virat Kohli's 27th Test ton, extending his overall tally to 70 international hundreds.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh: 106 and (Mushfiqur Rahim 74, Mahmudullah retired hurt 39; Umesh Yadav 5/53, Ishant Sharma 4/56).
India 1st Innings: 347 for 9 in 89.4 overs (Virat Kohli 136; Al-Amin Hossain 3/85, Ebadat Hossain 3/91).
(With inputs from PTI)
