Day 1 – Session 2: India chose to field.
Current RR: 2.84
• Min. Ov. Rem: 64
• Last 10 ov (RR): 28/0 (2.80)
The Bangladesh openers saw through the early phase before falling to the same bowler
Akash Deep got India the first two breakthroughs • AFP/Getty Images
Lunch Bangladesh 74 for 2 (Shanto 28*, Mominul 17*, Deep 2-14) vs India
Akash Deep struck twice on the first morning of the second Test in Kanpur to give India an early advantage before Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mominul Haque added 45 in an unbroken third-wicket stand to make sure the game was in balance at lunch.
As the last over before the break was in progress, it started drizzling, and when the teams walked back, the ground staff quickly brought the covers on.
Earlier, the toss was delayed by an hour because of a wet outfield, caused by overnight rain. When the coin landed in India’s favour, Rohit Sharma had no hesitation in opting to bowl under overcast skies. It was the first time since 2015 that India chose to bowl in a home Test. The last time a team opted to bowl at Green Park was in 1964, when India had inserted England.
Rohit said the pitch was a little soft and had a bit more grass than the usual Kanpur surface. Bangladesh read the conditions differently; not only did they want to bat first but also picked three spinners.
Rohit, meanwhile, expected his three seamers to make use of the conditions as India went unchanged. Jasprit Bumrah got the ball to move both ways and bowled three maidens to start with but did not strike. It was the same for Mohammed Siraj at the other end as Shadman Islam and Zakir Hasan survived the opening spells. Zakir, in fact, could not open his account despite facing 20 balls in that period.
Full report to follow…
Hemant Brar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
