India A press home advantage on rain-affected second day against Bangladesh A
India A pressed home the advantage in the rain-affected second day’s play of the unofficial Test against Bangladesh A to build a 1st innings lead of 183 runs. Resuming the day at 161/3, Shikhar Dhawan continued in his aggressive manner from the opening day to reach 150, before equally entertaining knocks by Karun Nair and Vijay Shankar helped India reach 411/5 in their first innings.
With rain a persistent threat, skipper Dhawan declared the innings allowing the bowlers to have a crack at the Bangladeshi openers. It proved to be a smart move as the visitors lost both their openers, Anamul Haque and Soumya Sarkar, leaving them in trouble at 36/2. Bangladesh A are still 147 runs behind with 8 wickets in hand and a day's play to go.
Dhawan started the day cautiously before stepping up the scoring as India A went past the 200-run mark with the opener getting able support from Shreyas Iyer at the other end. But the hosts were in a spot of bother as Dhawan (150) & Iyer (38) fell in the space of 12 runs to leave India A at 232/3.
Youngsters Shankar and Nair led their team safely to lunch without any further troubles helping them attain a lead of 33 runs with the score at 261/3. They played an aggressive yet cautious brand of cricket building up a 108-run partnership for the fourth wicket before Nair was dismissed by Jubair Hossain.
Soon after, a rain interruption stopped play for more than two hours, but the hosts did well not to waste time after the restart with Shankar smacking a few big hits, well supported by Naman Ojha before once again Jubair halted his march to a century at 86, which also brought the Indian innings to a close.
The bowlers looked pumped up to not let the game slip away and the duo of Ishwar Pandey and Jayant Yadav picked up a wicket each to leave Bangladesh A with a lot of work to do if they are to salvage something from the match.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh A – 228 all out & 36/2 ( Sarkar 19, Mominul Haque 9*); Pandey 1/4, Yadav 1/8
India A – 411/5 decl ( Shikhar Dhawan 150, Vijay Shankar 86, Karun Nair 71); Jubair Hossain 2/76
Bangladesh A trail by 147 runs, 8 wickets in hand.