KULDEEP, SIRAJ put Bangladesh on mat

Brief scores: India 404 (Cheteshwar Pujara 90, Shreyas Iyer 86, R Ashwin 58; Taijul Islam 4-133, Mehidy Hasan Miraz 4-113) lead Bangladesh 133/8 (Mushfiqur Rahim 28; Kuldeep Yadav 4-33, Mohammad Siraj 3-14) by 271 runs

Chattogram: Kuldeep Yadav sizzled with an all-round show while Mohammed Siraj ran through the Bangladesh top order as the duo put India firmly in the driver’s seat on day two of the opening Test here on Thursday.

Playing his first Test after more than 22 months, Kuldeep continued his ‘birthday’ party a day after turning 28, in his sensational run with the bat and the ball. Kuldeep first came up with a career-best 40 from 114 balls in a 92-run eighth wicket partnership with veteran Ravichandran Ashwin (58) to push India to 404 in their first inning from an overnight score of 278/6.

At stumps on day two, Bangladesh were 133 for eight, trailing India by 271 runs. With two wickets in hand, the hosts still need 72 runs to avoid a follow-on. “I was a bit nervous, I was very lucky to get the first wicket in the first over. Got the momentum back. After a couple of overs, I started feeling well, mixed my pace and variations, tried both the angles - over the wicket and round the wicket,” Kuldeep said after the end of day’s play.

“I was getting proper turn, I was actually loving it. After I got injured, I started working on my rhythm, trying to be a bit quicker - that’s helping me a lot. I am not compromising with the spin,” he added. Introduced into the attack in the 25th over, the left-arm wrist spinner struck on his second ball as he flummoxed the Bangladesh batters with his wrong ones to end the day with figures of 10-3-33-4, a performance that is certain to boost his confidence.

However, it was Siraj who began the proceedings with a wicket off the very first ball of the innings, when he induced an edge from Najmul Hossain Shanto (1) with an away going delivery. Stumper Rishabh Pant dived on his left to grab the edge.

The Indian quick, who was on a song, rattled the Bangladesh top-order and later dismissed Zakir Hasan (20) and Litton Das (24) to end the day with impressive figures of 9-1-14-3. Both teams were also involved in a bit of banter especially after Das gave a ‘I can’t hear you’ gesture after an elegant drive off Siraj.