In the end, two-and-a-half washed-out days were nowhere near enough to halt the Indian juggernaut. Jasprit Bumrah and Yashasvi Jaiswal did the star turn in India's ruthless win over Bangladesh in the second Test in Kanpur on Tuesday (October 1, 2024). The hosts thus swept the two match series 2-0. (Highlights | Scorecard | More Cricket News)
Chasing a 95-run target on the fifth day, India flew past the mark in 17.2 overs, with Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant at the crease to finish the job. Jaiswal smashed back-to-back fifties, and Bumrah picked up six wickets to set it all up.
With just 35 overs of play possible at the end of three rain-marred days, the game seemed to be heading for a dull draw. But when the sun came out on the fourth morning, India showed exactly how dangerous a Test side they are at home, attacking relentlessly with bat and ball to force a result in the next five sessions.
First, it was an all-round bowling performance that engineered a third Bangladeshi batting collapse in as many innings this series. It was that man Jasprit Bumrah again who triggered the dismantling, cleaning up the experienced Mushfiqur Rahim early on Day 4 to kickstart the procession.
The pace battery accounted for seven wickets — Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep chipping in with two apiece — as the Tigers were dismissed for 233 runs inside 75 overs.
What then followed was a brand of batting that England have been trying to claim for self as 'Bazball', but has been brandished inimitably by India, time and again. Captain Rohit Sharma and his opening partner Jaiswal set the tone at the top with audacious hitting, and the middle order followed suit.
The wickets kept falling but the run-flow never stemmed, as India declared at 285 runs for the loss of nine wickets, at an astonishing, T20-like run rate of 8.22 RPO.
Another Bangladesh collapse ensued post that, this one more abject than the rest, and the visitors were shot out for 146 runs in 47 overs. Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja came to the party more prominently this time, scalping three wickets each as the ball turned and kept progressively lower on the final day.
India were left with 95 runs to get in two sessions. As it turned out, they needed all of 104 balls to rattle them off.
