Kolkata / India defeat Bangladesh within 3 days in their first Day-Night Test

The historic day/night Test at Eden Gardens ticked all the right boxes - barring the cricket. Bangladesh were battered, bruised and finally, broken. They were smashed away by India as the hosts recording their longest winning streak in Test matches by bagging their seventh win on the bounce.

For all the talk about the pitch being favourable to the bowlers, and for all the pedigree of the Indian attack, Bangladesh batsmen did play their own part by plying erratic and extremely loose strokes to gift their wickets away. Yes, Ishant Sharma was superb, his angle from around the wicket to the left-handers was phenomenal, but one would expect more discipline and courage from Test batsmen. Umesh Yadav did the mopping up job on day 3 and bagged his own 5th wicket haul as Bangladesh was short out for 195. Mahmudullah did not come out to bat.

Along the way the lost two batsmen to concussion, and had to fly in Nazmul Shanto from Bangladesh as a possible substitute - this mess, in many ways, was an apt reflection of the cricket. The only solace for them was the fight shown by Mushfiqur Rahim, who mixed caution with aggression and dragged the match to the third day.

When the day began, they still trailed by 89 runs, and the biggest question gaping at them was whether or not, they would be able to make India bat again. With a fairly old ball which did not offer any assistance to the bowlers, the hosts had to toil hard, perhaps for the first time in the Test match to claim wickets. It was a matter of who blinked first, and true to the nature of the match and this series, Bangladesh did!

“In the last 3-4 years, we have had an amazing pace attack, all 140+. We have been succesfful outside and at home. It has been wobbling and all that, especially under lights. It’s not that only spin is dominant now. I’ve never tried anything specifically for the conditions, just tried to do the basic right. Bumrah is number one on the list - after than Shami, Umesh, Ishant in that order, but didn’t really struggle much,” Wriddhiman Saha said after the match.