Umesh Yadav delighted after taking four wickets on Day 1

Indian bowlers impressed in the third session to bowl out Bangladesh on just 227 runs on Day 1 of the second Test match in Mirpur on Thursday (December 22). Bangladesh elected batting first while winning the toss at Shere Bangla National Stadium and managed to balance the first two sessions with 184/5 in 57 runs before the Tea break with Mominul Haque scoring the highest 84 runs off 157 balls.

But Indian bowlers put in impressive spells to restrict the hosts to just 227 runs with veteran pacer Umesh Yadav taking four wickets for 25 from his 15 overs. He took Shakib Al Hasan’s valuable wicket and grabbed three more wickets after Tea.

I just looked to hit the right areas: Umesh Yadav

Umesh struggled in the first Test match at Chattogram with just two wickets across two innings but managed to impress in the second match with a good amount of help from the pitch. While talking to reporters after the match, Umesh revealed that Indian bowlers were trying to reverse the bowl and bowled wicket to wicket

“The start is good for the pacers early on. Some balls are kicking off and some are seaming. I just looked to hit the right areas. When Ashwin started, we thought it would turn. But it didn’t, the pace isn’t there for the spinners to turn. The dry grass has made the surface spongy. We were trying to reverse and bowled wicket to wicket. Happy to have gotten it,” Umesh said.

Apart from Umesh, Ashwin also made a big impact with four wickets while conceding runs at an economy rate of 3.25. Ashwin also struggled in the Chattogram Test with just one wicket across two innings while Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel put in impressive spells. Returning to Test cricket after 12 years of gap, left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat also took two wickets but Mohammed Siraj and Axar Patel didn’t get any success on Day 1. Indian openers KL Rahul and Shubman Gill stood firm to score 19 runs from eight overs before officials called it stumps on Day 1 early due to bad light.