With this victory, India took a 1-0 lead in the two-game series.
WHAT. A. WIN! 👏👏#TeamIndia put on an impressive show winning the first #BANvIND test with 188 rides 🙌🙌Scorecard ▶️… https://t.co/rrGUeCVlkD
—BCCI (@BCCI) 1671338006000
India needed Bangladesh four wickets early on day five to secure a win and KL RaulMen wrapped it up in a flash. This was Rahul’s first Test win as India captain. He is the substitute skipper for the injured Rohit Sharma.
Kuldeep, who claimed five wickets in the first innings, returned a haul of 8/113, his best in Tests. The Chinese bowler was adjudged Man of the Match for his superb bowling.
“I love bowling the Kookaburra balls, it gives me better grip and control than the SG ball,” said Kuldeep after the win.
.@imkuldeep18 shone 🔆 and won the Player of the Match award as #TeamIndia won the #BANvIND first test 🙌 🙌… https://t.co/g1DOppNByv
—BCCI (@BCCI) 1671340794000
“If I hadn’t played cricket it would have been very challenging but I played a lot of white ball matches. I played IPL and red ball India A was equal so my pace was set.
“I could pitch with an aggressive approach and at this pace, you have to put in the extra effort and it takes a toll on the body,” he said.
“I enjoy playing all formats of cricket for India, nothing matches that pride. When I’m not playing I keep training so the confidence stays intact in matches but I stay relaxed,” he added.
The two-match series is part of the ICC World Test Championship.
With this win, India moved up to third place in the World Test Championship points standings, pushing Sri Lanka into fourth place.
India now has 87 points on 55.77 percentage points (pct) while Sri Lanka has 64 points and 53.33 pct. Australia leads the table with 75 pct, followed by South Africa (60 pct)
Restarting with an overnight score of 276 for 6, Bangladesh skipper Shakib-Al-Hasan strove to attack, knowing full well it wasn’t going to be easy to survive all day.
He went for his runs to score 84, studded with six fours and as many hits over the fence in his stay of 108 balls.
But the Indians played patiently. KL Rahul, who recorded his first Test win as skipper, started with a pace-spin combination from Siraj (1/67) and Patel.
The Bangladesh batsmen started aggressively as Mehidy Hasan Miraz drove Siraj delightfully across the blankets in his first over for the first boundary of the day.
At the other end, Shakib made his intentions clear, hitting Patel in the square leg.
But Siraj had his man in his next over as Mehidy fell on a free throw.
Siraj sprayed the ball out of off stump again and Mehidy could only manage to cut the delivery straight to Umesh Yadav at back point.
Shakib brought up his 30th Test fifty with a straight six off Patel.
Shakib took his chances but the call was too high as Rahul introduced Kuldeep as a first change and the left arm spinner picked up two wickets in consecutive overs while Patel picked another as India ended the stubborn resistance of Bangladesh.
Kuldeep first cleared Shakib as the batter went for another sweep on extra cover and then had Shreyas Iyer catch Ebadat Hossain.
Axar completed the formalities by going through the defense of Taijul Islam.
The second round will be played from 22 to 26 December at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka.
(With inputs from PTI)
