Iyer-Ashwin partnership gives India thrilling win in 2nd Test against Bangladesh

Shreyas Iyer produced a sublime outing in the second Test as he steered India away from the jaws of defeat to ensure a three-wicket win over Bangladesh in Dhaka, as the visitors registered a clean-sweep in the two-match series. 

Shreyas remained unbeaten on 29*, while Ravichandran Ashwin partnered him with an important 42* as the duo successfully completed the 145-run chase; the side was, at one stage, reeling at 74/7 in the innings.

India endured a disappointing batting order collapse as the the top-3 of KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, and Cheteshwar Pujara was dismissed on 2, 7, and 6 respectively. 

Axar Patel, who was promoted to no.4 spot to ensure a left-right combination during the final hour of Day 3, eventually remained unbeaten through the day and scored 34; Virat Kohli, meanwhile, was another casualty on the third day as he fell on 1.

India lost three quick wickets early into the fourth day of the Test as nightwatchman Jaydev Unadkat fell on 13 and Rishabh Pant, who had scored a valiant 93 in the first innings, also fell cheaply. Pant was trapped plumb against Mehidy Hasan Miraz as he was dismissed on 9; the latter eventually completed his five-wicket haul with the wicket of Axar.

Iyer and Ashwin, however, then steered India out of trouble as they kept their calm, punishing the bad deliveries and remaining composed in playing out their natural game. The duo saw off the early threat of Mehidy and Shakib Al Hasan, forcing Bangladesh to introduce pacers and continued to rotate strike at regular intervals, eventually steering India to victory.

Earlier, Bangladesh had scored 231 in the first innings with Litton Das scoring an important 73. Zakir Hasan also put out a solid outing as he scored 51; for India, Axar Patel picked three wickets and was the pick of the bowlers in the innings.

Shreyas Iyer had a great contribution in the first innings as well on a difficult wicket. His counterattacking partnership of 159 off just 30.2 overs with Rishabh Pant bailed India out of trouble and gave them a crucial lead of 87 which eventually made the difference. 

Iyer scored 87 off 105 in the first innings and Pant (93 off 104) fell in the nineties for the sixth time in Tests. 

Mehidy Hasan Miraz was outstanding throughout the series. He played two match-winning knocks in the ODI series including a win and in Mirpur, he bowled a brilliant spell of five for 63 to give Bangladesh a sniff. 

Bangladesh will rue the dropped catch of Ashwin, put down by Mominul Haque, who took a couple of magnificent close-in catches, at short-leg. India could have been 80 for eight if Mominul had held onto that and it could have thrown the game wide open. 

The match, though, marked his return to Tests after being dropped from the side and the southpaw responded with a fighting 84.