At Hyderabad against an outmatched Bangladesh, Virat Kohli essayed his fourth double hundred in Tests, and the third one not to feature a single ball launched over the boundary.
Faced with a mountainous task after India’s massive first innings, Bangladesh struggled to 125-4 at lunch on day three of the one-off cricket test in Hyderabad on Saturday.
The day marked many new world records with Kohli also becoming the first test captain to score three successive test hundreds.
Batting with India’s strong lower order for the most part, Ravichandran Ashwin supported well for 36 before Ravindra Jadeja passed 50, ending on 60 not out and smacking a couple of sixes in his innings. And on the first two occasions, his departure led to a collapse and then to defeat – the last four wickets after his dismissal fell for 27 runs against England and against New Zealand the last five wickets fell for 94. Third over of the day, Bangladesh lost Tamim to a run-out to a awful piece of miscommunication between the two batsmen.
For a batsman who made his reputation in the limited overs format, where he hits three sixes in four innings, Kohli has only hit 11 sixes in his 91 Test innings.
Earlier, Kohli started from where he had left off on Thursday with two thumping boundaries off Taskin Ahmed. The first was an uppish slash while the second rocketed down the ground.
While many others in his place would probably have left the fuller delivery well outside the off-stump, Rahul went for an expansive cover drive without moving his feet, dragging the ball onto his wickets via a backfoot deflection.
There is literally “ain’t no mountain high enough” for Chikoo (called by his teammates), as he is now unstoppable on the pitch, and has proved his consistency by winning back to back matches and contributing to India’s undefeatable streak both as a team player and a captain. He managed to regroup to put on 45 with an equally tentative Shakib Al Hasan before Ishant Sharma had him lbw with an inswinger for 28.
Mehedi’s half-century came on his 103rd ball, striking 10 boundaries in the process. Rahane could have been caught on 62 had Shabbir Rahaman held onto a tough chance at deep third man region. But, talking about his decision to walk off without reviewing, he missed out on a well-deserved possible triple ton as he was looking good to carry on and make it big. Fortunately for him, the ball-tracker suggested that the ball spun a long way and was going down the leg stump. This was when Rahim got the company of the talented Miraz, who proved his mettle with the bat.