Ashwin, Iyer hold nerves as India pull off Christmas miracle to win Mirpur Test against Bangladesh

Ravichandran Ashwin and Shreyas Iyer held their nerves as India beat Bangladesh by three wickets in the 2nd Test to win the two-match series on Christmas.

Coming in when India were seven wickets down, Ashwin and Iyer rode out the storm caused by Mehidy Hasan Miraz. The Indian pair maintained their temperament and stitched a match-winning 71-run unbeaten partnership to complete the clean sweep 2-0 against Bangladesh.

India suffered an early collapse while chasing the target of 145 runs. Mehidy struck thrice to keep Bangladesh’s hopes alive of levelling the two-test series as India posted 45/4 at stumps on the third day.

Stand-in captain KL Rahul continued to struggle in the series as Shakib Al Hasan dismissed him cheaply for two. Mehidy then sent Cheteshwar Pujara (6), Shubman Gill (7), Virat Kohli (1) back to the dressing room in quick succession. India promoted Axar Patel to number four with night-watchman Jaydev Unadkat to see off the day.

On Day 4, India lost night-watchman Unadkat as Shakib trapped him in front for 13. The dismissal led to a flurry of wickets, with the visitors losing Rishabh Pant (9) and Axar (34) in the space of nine balls.

Earlier, Litton Das and Zakir Hasan’s fifties lifted Bangladesh to post 231 in their second innings. Zakir, who scored a century in the first Test, held one end as Bangladesh lost early wickets, including Shakib for 13. India’s pace trio Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat and Mohammed Siraj ensured to keep the hosts on the backfoot.

Litton tried to keep the scoreboard ticking but just when he threatened to go big, Siraj bowled him for 73. Axar and Ashwin then cleaned up the tail-enders to finish with three and two wickets respectively.