The Indian captain Virat Kohli has reason to celebrate. He has led India to a 4th consecutive wins by an innings. In the process, India created a world record. India and Bangladesh played their first-ever day-night test match with a pink ball at Kolkata. The match played at the famous Eden Gardens saw Kohli hit 136 and thus became the first Indian centurion in a day-night test match. The match had an enthusiast response from the public but sadly the Bangladesh team failed to adapt to the conditions and the match was over inside three days. This was a bit of a dampener for the people of Kolkata who had looked forward to five days of competitive Cricket.
BBC has reported that overall the Bangladesh team caved in against the pace attack of India.
Political overtones
The match had political overtones and the Bangladesh prime minister Begum Hasina and Bengals chief minister, Mamta Bannerjee was to attend. Before they could schedule their visit the match was over with another abject surrender by the Bangladesh team.
Poor show by Bangladesh
Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat. The conditions were daunting as it was the first time Bangladesh and India were playing a day-night test match with a pink ball. Unfortunately, they put on a poor show. The pitch at Eden Gardens is known to favour swing and speed because of the humid conditions. In this case, it appears the pink ball has the propensity to swing more than the red ball.
India packed their side with three fast bowlers in Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, and Mohammed Shami.
The Bangladesh team simply folded for 106 against the Indian speed attack with Ishant Sharma bagging 5-22. This was not all as one of the Bangladesh batsmen Liton Das was hit just behind the ear despite wearing a helmet while facing a super-fast over from Ishant.
He retired injured.
Such a small total failed to daunt India who hit up 347 for 9 declared. Virat Kohli hit 136 and there were useful contributions from Pujara and Rahane. The Bangladesh bowlers were out of their depth. After the Indian declaration, they were called in to bat towards the end of the second day.
Crushing defeat
Once again the Bangladesh batsmen put on a poor performance and were crushed. They failed to negotiate the Indian fast bowlers. Once again one of their batsmen was hit and had to retire injured. The Bangladesh innings folded for 197 early on the third day and the test was over inside three days. The Hindu business line has reported that India won the series 2-0.
The Day-night experiment was a novel experience for both teams, however, India under Kohli adapted better to the conditions. Credit for holding this test match under lights must go to the new Indian cricket board president Saurab Ganguly who pushed for this change. India had been resisting this form of test cricket for over two years.
Last word
Ishant Sharma was named the man of the match as well as the man of the series for his 9 wickets in the match. India also recorded their 4th consecutive innings victory and 12th series win under Kohli. The Indian skipper expressed a pertinent opinion that the real test will come when India play New Zealand and Australia on their home grounds. Both tours are in the offing and will be the acid test for Indian cricket
