Unadkat gets Mushfiqur as Bangladesh reach 184/5 at tea

Mirpur, Dec 22 (PTI) Comeback man Jaydev Unadkat and senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took two wickets apiece but Mominul’s Haque defiant half-century took Bangladesh to 184 for five at tea on the opening day of the second Test against India here on Thursday.

Unadkat, who made his debut against South Africa at Centurion in December 2010, returned to Test format after a gap of 12 years. In between, he missed 118 matches, the highest by an Indian and the second highest in world cricket.

After an impressive showing in the morning session during which he accounted for last match’s centurion Zakir Hasan (15), the left-arm seamer continued to impress after lunch and in the process picked up the wicket of Mushfiqur Rahim.

It was a length ball that pitched on line and moved just enough to get a faint edge and Rishabh Pant did the rest behind the stumps.

Ashwin, who dismissed Najmul Hossain Shanto (24) in the morning session, sent back Litton Das (25) in the post-lunch period.

But Mominul continued the fight for Bangladesh, remaining unbeaten on 65 off 121 balls, his 16th Test fifty. He hit 11 boundaries so far during his knock.

Bangladesh added 102 runs off 29 overs in the second session.

At the break, Mehidy Hasan Miraz (4) was the other not out batter at the crease.

Bangladesh witnessed a horrible start to their innings in the post lunch session as Shakib departed in the first delivery after the break, lobbing a length delivery from Umesh Yadav straight to Cheteshwar Pujara at mid-off.

Mushfiqur shared 48 runs for the next wicket with Mominul before becoming Unadkat’s second victim of the day.

Litton played an attacking knock which had two boundaries and a six but he couldn’t carry on the good work as he flicked a full length delivery from Ashwin straight to captain KL Rahul.

But Mominul kept his calm and went about his business in quiet fashion.

Earlier, Rahul started the proceedings with the new ball duo of Mohammed Siraj and Umesh Yadav after being asked to bowl.

Rahul introduced Unadkat as first change in the ninth over and the pacer exploited the overcast conditions from the word go as he troubled both Shanto and Zakir with his incoming deliveries.

He often beat the outside edge of both Shanto and Zakir with deliveries that just shaped away after pitching. His deliveries skidded off the surface and occasionally rose from good length to create problems for the openers.

Unadkat finally tasted success in the fifth delivery of the 14th over when he bowled a length ball outside off but extra bounce completely surprised Zakir, who ballooned one straight to Rahul at the fourth slip as the batter was shaping for a cut.