C T Online Desk: Bangladesh denied Shreyas Iyer a century but couldn’t keep India at bay as the visitors reached 348-7 at lunch on day two of the first cricket Test, thanks to a solid batting performance from Ravichandran Ashwin at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogaram on Thursday.
Frustrating Bangladesh the whole morning session, Ashwin was batting on 40 with Kuldeep Yadav on 21 at the first interval of the day.
Bangladesh’s only success in this session came when they got the key wicket of Iyer who closed in on his second Test century.
After resuming at 278-6, Ashwin started the day in aggressive fashion, hitting Mehidy Hasan Miraz a six over long on as India looked to take a full control.
Bangladesh made the matters worse by dropping Iyer on 85, for the third time in the game as he top-edged a short delivery of pacer Ebadot Hossain but Liton Das put down the catch at fine-leg.
Iyer survived on 30 and 67 on day one and on 77, Bangladesh could have got him but the bails were not dropped despite Ebadot’s delivery hit the stump.
The disappointment didn’t last long as Ebadot rattled the stump in his next over to dismiss Iyer for 86. His 192-ball-innings included 10 fours.
Ashwin however found an apt support in Kuldeep as they added 55-run for the eighth wicket stand so far to keep Bangladesh frustrated.
For Bangladesh, left-arm spinner Taijul Islam had figures of 3-100 while Mehidy Hasan took 2-96.
