India continues its purple-patch; thumps Bangladesh by 208 runs

Hyderabad: India registered yet another emphatic win in Tests by defeating the visiting Bangladesh team by 208 runs in the one-off Test at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on Monday, to extend the unbeaten streak to 19 games.

Once again, the Indian spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin (4/73) and Ravindra Jadeja (4/78) scripted India's win in the final inning by bagging eight wickets, combined, despite very nominal support from the fifth day track. Ishant Sharma also claimed two wickets for 40 runs to help the home team outclass the visitors.

Mahmudullah with his 64-run knock, tried his best to keep India away from victory but was not provided enough support from the rest of the squad. Skipper Mushfiqur Rahim, who scored a terrific ton in the first inning, failed this time as he could only add 23 runs.

Tamim Iqbal continued his bad form in the second inning as well as he went back early after adding just 3 runs. Opener Soumya Sarkar got off to a good start but failed to utilize as he was sent back after scoring 42 runs by Jadeja.

The Bangladesh frontline batsmen, Mominul Haque (27), Shakil Al Hasan (22), Mushfiqur (23), Sabbir Rahman (22) and Mehendi Hasan Miraz (23) started of nicely but failed to convert the innings into big ones, helping India continue their purple patch under the leadership of Virat Kohli.

Earlier, India won the toss and decided to bat first. With some remarkable innings by Murli Vijay (108), Virat Kohli (204) and Wriddhiman Saha (106), the home team managed to aggregate a gigantic total of 687/6 in the first innings. Cheteshwar Pujara (83), Ajinkya Rahane (82) and Ravindra Jadeja (60) also played vital parts as well.

In India's first inning, Taijul Islam claimed three wickets, while Mehendi Hasan took two and Taskin Ahmed plucked one wicket, respectively.

In reply, Bangladesh batsmen could manage 388 runs in their first inning which was still 299 runs short of what India had piled up on the board. Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim played a commendable inning of 127 runs, while Shakib Al Hasan scored 82 runs. Mehendi Hasan also added 51 runs.

Umesh Yadav was pick of the bowlers as he had three scalps, while Ashwin and Jadeja claimed two each and Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma had one each.

Despite Bangladesh had failed to save follow-on, India decided to come back to bat and scored 159 runs off just 29 overs. Cheteshwar Pujara was the highest scorer as he scored 54 runs off just 58 balls with 6 fours and a six.

With these contributions, India set up a huge 459-run target for Bangladesh which eventually fell 208-run short of it.

Virat Kohli was named man of the match for his double century. It was his fourth double-ton in four successive series.