BAN vs IND, 2nd Test: Early strikes put visitors in command; Zakir, Litton take hosts to 71/4 (Lunch, Day 3)

Dhaka [Bangladesh], December 24 : Indian bowlers' disciplined performance in the first session against Bangladesh jostled the hosts as they lost four batters for 71 runs on the third day of the second test here at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka.
Jaydev Unadkat, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj and Axar Patel took a wicket each to dismantle the hosts in the first session of the third day of the second test. Zakir Hasan (37*) and Litton Das, still to open his account took the hosts to 71/4 at lunch.
Resuming the inning at 7/0, Bangladesh lost their first wicket in the second over of the day to Ashwin as he found Shanto (5) plumb in front of the wicket after surviving a close call on the previous delivery.
Siraj and Ashwin bowled in tandem and looked threatening as they made the opposition batters play defensively. Mominul Haque struck Siraj for a boundary but the pacer had the last laugh as he dismissed the first inning's top-scorer for 5 runs.
The batters were made to sweat for runs as the Indian bowlers bowled in the right areas and kept a lid on the scoring rate.
Unadkat paired up with Umesh Yadav to make the Bangladesh batting lineup look fragile. The Saurashtra bowler got rid of Shakib Al Hasan in his first over of the day, reducing Bangladesh to 51/3.
Shakib tried to be positive and play his shots but the left-arm pacer outdid the skipper, making him chip the ball in covers for a soft dismissal.
Experienced batter Mushfiqur Rahim looked solid and it seemed Bangladesh would o into lunch with three wickets down but Axar Patel found him right in front of the wicket to dismiss the right-hander for 9 runs.
Zakir Hasan who made his debut for Bangladesh in the first test was the only batter who showed resilience against a disciplined Indian bowling attack. He anchored one end and made sure that the hosts did not suffer a collapse.
Litton Das and Zakir remained unbeaten for the hosts as the umpires called lunch on the third day of the second test.
earlier, wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer's knock guided India to 314 all out giving them an 87-run lead in the first innings of the second test here at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka.
Resuming the post-tea session at 226/4, India went on to go past the Bangladesh team's total of 227 runs to take the first-innings lead.
Brief Scores: Bangladesh 227/10 and 71-4 (Shakib Al Hasan 13, Zakir Hasan 37*; Axar Patel 1-2) vs India 314/10 (Rishabh Pant 93, Shreyas Iyer 87; Taijul Islam 4-74, Shakib Al Hasan 4/79).