Ravichandran Ashwin, Shreyas Iyer steer nervy India home in Mirpur Test

Their unbroken 71-run eighth wicket stand dragged India across the line with the three-wicket win helping seal the series versus Bangladesh 2-0

In a game which tested the nerves and skills of most, Shreyas Iyer and R Ashwin showed tremendous composure under pressure for an unbeaten 71-run stand to help India weather a spin storm at Mirpur’s Shere Bangla National Stadium and steal a three-wicket win over Bangladesh in the second Test on Sunday.

India's Ravichandran Ashwin, left, and Shreyas Iyer celebrates after scoring the final run to beat Bangladesh on the fourth day of the second cricket test match, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2022.(PTI)

The pair came together with the team in deep trouble at 74/7, still 71 runs from the target. Ashwin (42*-- 62b, 4x4, 1x6) and Iyer (29* -- 46 b, 4x4) steadied the innings to help India sneak past Bangladesh for a 2-0 series win.

The result means India’s Word Test Championship hopes are bright as they consolidated their hold on the second spot ahead of a four-Test home series against Australia starting in February.

The game was so close and could have gone either way. With India needing 100 more to win with six wickets in hand on resumption, Mehidy Hasan Miraj and Shakib Al Hasan threatened to take the game away when they prized out three quick wickets within the first half hour. Most disappointed will be Mehidy Hasan. The off-spinner gave his all. Continuing from where he had left in the evening, he took two more wickets to complete a fifer (19-4-63-5), giving the hosts a real chance of victory.

Dramatic finish

It was an electrifying opening session on the fourth day. India, resuming on 45/4 with Axar Patel on 26, suffered an early setback as Shakib struck in his first over by trapping nightwatchman Jaydev Unadkat (13).

That meant the moment everyone was looking forward to had arrived with Rishabh Pant walking in at No 7. The dashing southpaw, who was brilliant in the first innings on way to 93, had his task cut out against the off-spinner. To the delight of the home side, on the last ball of the 28th over—fifth of the morning—the rising Bangladesh star got his man.

It was fascinating the way the offie set him up. Pant was looking to come out of the crease to smother the spin, but Mehidy was getting the odd ball to turn, to create doubts in the batter’s mind and then slipping in a quicker one.

With Pant pinned to the crease, the knock-out punch was delivered with a flat delivery that came in with the arm. The batter playing for the turn was caught plumb in front of the wicket. The spontaneous celebrations with Mehidy breaking into his trademark sprint showed how much Pant’s scalp meant to the bowling side.

Three runs later, the only India player who was middling the ball till then, Axar Patel, was also gone, bowled by Mehidy off his pads. It was the off-spinner's fifth wicket.

With India tottering at 74/7, the target of 145 looked a long way off. One more wicket and it would have been game over. Mehidy could have got Ashwin also. He came up with that match-sealing opportunity when he had him offering a bat-pad chance to forward short-leg, but Mominul Haque, who had caught Virat Kohli brilliantly the previous evening, couldn’t hold on this time. It could have been 80/8 and Bangladesh were left to rue the let off.

It was about one decent partnership. Ashwin buckled down to provide Iyer support. The pitch offered spin and variable bounce but the batters hung in there. They absorbed the initial pressure, advancing with the odd singles while getting entrenched before Iyer changed the momentum with two fours off Shakib. Ashwin then took over and finished the game with a flurry of boundary hits, taking 16 runs off a Mehidy over to finish the game.

Relieved India

The Indian dressing room felt a big relief, captain KL Rahul admitted. “You just trust the guys in the middle. There’s always belief but there were nerves, we are human. But we trusted the batters out. Today, Ashwin and Shreyas did it with ease and style. Well done to them to earn India the win.

"We never thought it’d be a cakewalk, thought we need to grind and work hard for runs which Bangladesh did. It was tougher with the new ball. We lost more wickets than we’d have liked. We’ve made mistakes but will look to learn and hopefully put a better performance if a similar situation arises in the future.”

Ashwin was all praise for batting partner Iyer. “The game was on the line. I thought Bangladesh played really well. The game had to be won the hard way.”

The Mumbai player looked the best batter on the pitch, showing no nerves, getting to the pitch of the ball and meeting it with the full face of the bat. He was a strong contender for Man-of-the-Match and Man-of-the-Series after his 86 in the first Test and 87 in the first innings of the second Test.

Though Iyer narrowly missed out due to Ashwin’s all-round show, the senior partner said he was equally deserving. “Shreyas batted beautifully; if he wasn't the Player-of-the-Series, I’d have shared this with him (Cheteshwar Pujara though was named Player-of-the-Series). In these situations, sometimes you feel you need to hit your way. They bowled well, but we needed to trust our defence. I wanted to get in and support Shreyas.”