Bangladesh 60/4 at lunch as India cruise towards big innings victory
Indore, Nov 16: India remained on course for a big innings victory after their Pacers blew away the Bangladesh top-order, reducing the visitors to 60 for 4 at lunch on the third day of the first Test here on Saturday.
India declared their first innings at overnight score of 493 for 6 to let their pace attack make effective use of the conducive conditions. Bangladesh are now 283 runs behind India's first innings score.
Having conceded a 343-run first innings lead to India, it was another horrendous start by the battered Bangladeshi batsmen in their second essay as Umesh Yadav (1/30 in 8 overs), Ishant Sharma (1/15 in 9 overs) and Mohammed Shami (2/8 in 5 overs) kept the visiting batsmen on tenterhooks.
It was Umesh's perfectly pitched outswinger (inswinger for left-hander), that got rid of Imrul Kayes (6), who looked like getting out to every delivery that he faced. The ball tailed in and uprooted the leg-stump.
Young Shadman Islam (6) was beaten by both pace and movement with Ishant getting one to nip back from length as it hit the top of middle-stump.
Bangladesh's best bet, skipper Mominul Haque (7) was jittery from the start and survived a DRS call while trying to leave a delivery pitched on off-stump. However, when Mohammed Shami angled one into him, Mominul was adjudged plumb in-front even though Virat Kohli had to take a review which was successful.
Shami then hurried Mohammed Mithun (18) with a beautiful short ball that he grew big on him as he tried to play the pull shot. The result was a simple catch to Mayank Agarwal at mid-wicket.
The two senior-most players Mushfiqur Rahim (9 batting) and Mahmudullah (6 batting) shakily continued till the lunch session to delay the inevitable.
It could have been five-down had Rohit Sharma not dropped Mushfiqur in a regulation catch in the second slip off Shami's bowling. The catch was coming straight towards Kohli but Rohit instinctively moved towards left and it popped out of his hands.
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Rain lashes parts of Bengal as severe cyclone 'Dana' moves closer to coast
Kolkata (PTI): Several districts of West Bengal received moderate to heavy rain on Thursday morning, as severe cyclonic storm 'Dana' inched closer to the state’s coast and that of neighbouring Odisha, the IMD said.
The cyclonic storm is likely to make landfall between Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra Port in Odisha early Friday with wind speeds of up to 120 kilometres per hour (kmph), it said.
The weather system lay 280 km southeast of Paradip (Odisha) and 370 km south-southeast of Sagar Island (West Bengal) at 2.30 am, the IMD said in a bulletin.
The cyclonic storm is set to bring heavy rainfall in several south Bengal districts, including Kolkata.
Advising fishermen not to venture into the sea, the Met Department said gale wind with speeds reaching 90-100 kmph gusting to 110 kmph is prevailing over northwest Bay of Bengal.
It warned that the wind speed over the area is likely to increase gradually to
100-110 kmph gusting to 120 kmph till Friday morning, and decrease thereafter.
The coastal districts of Bengal are experiencing moderate to heavy rain and gusty winds since the early hours of Thursday, while Kolkata woke up to an overcast sky and intermittent showers.
The bulletin warned of heavy to very heavy rainfall with extremely heavy downpour in isolated places in the south Bengal districts of North and South 24 Parganas, Purba and Paschim Medinipur, Jhargram, Kolkata, Howrah and Hooghly districts on Thursday and Friday.
Public transportation to and from Kolkata's suburbs may get affected from the evening, as Eastern and South Eastern railways cancelled a large number of trains on Thursday and Friday, in view of the cyclone.
More than 170 express and passenger trains running through South Eastern Railway (SER) jurisdiction have been cancelled, an official said.
The trains cancelled were scheduled to depart from their originating stations between October 23 and October 27, he said.
The Kolkata-headquartered SER zone is spread across West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand.
Besides, the Eastern Railway (ER) will not operate any EMU local train from Sealdah station on its south and Hasnabad sections from 8 pm on Thursday till 10 am on Friday, the official said.
The ER also cancelled 68 suburban trains on the Howrah division on Friday morning, he said.
The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) said it is on high alert and has mobilised vessels and aircraft to respond swiftly to any contingency over the Bay of Bengal.
Meanwhile, the NDRF said it has deployed several teams across south Bengal to tackle any emergency situation.
Ferry services in the Sunderbans area spread over North and South 24 Parganas districts and also across river Hooghly in Kolkata and adjoining areas will remain cancelled in view of the impending inclement weather, officials said.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has also opened a control room at its headquarters here, and cancelled the leaves of all essential staff.
