India gave Bangladesh a minimum of 125 overs to survive to save the Hyderabad Test, 2.5 fewer than they managed to play in the first innings. It was only the second time they had batted 100 overs against India, and was largely down to their captain, wicketkeeper and one of their best batsman.

Mushfiqur Rahim might be struggling as a captain and a wicketkeeper but as a batsman he stood between India and dominance of the Hyderabad Test. He had a hamstring issue towards stumps on day three, he had his gloves peppered, he saw his lower-order partners struggle against India`s fast bowling but Mushfiqur went on to complete a second consecutive century as India took almost the whole first session on day four to take the remaining four Bangladesh wickets. Along the way he overtook Habibul Bashar to become the third-highest run-getter for Bangladesh.

Having secured a lead of 299, India chose to give their bowlers a breather and batted on in the middle session. Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane scored quick runs, with Pujara hooking Tasking Ahmed for only the eighth six of his Test career. India scored 158 in the middle session to take their lead to 458. Pujara scored an unbeaten 54 off 58, and also batted with Saurashtra team-mate Ravindra Jadeja for the first time in a Test.

During tea, India declared their innings closed. The consolation for Bangladesh was that there wasn`t much turn on offer for India`s spinners. That couldn`t stop R Ashwin from claiming the one wicket he needed to become the fastest man to 250 Test wickets. He took the last wicket in the Bangladesh innings, 10 minutes before lunch: Mushfiqur out to a stunning catch by Wriddhiman Saha down the leg side off a carrom ball. The shot was on, though, with No. 11 for company and this ball down the leg side. Mushfiqur only managed to get a bit of a glove on the attempted fine pull. This was perhaps only the second error Mushfiqur made in the whole session after resuming on his overnight 81.

Bangladesh couldn`t have had a worse start as Bhuvneshwar Kumar reversed one through the defence of the overnight half-centurion Mehedi Hasan in the first over of the morning. Through some fortune and through some application, Mushfiqur and Taijul Islam batted together for close to 10 overs. Taijul faced 38 of those deliveries as Mushfiqur didn`t farm the strike. Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma tested both of them with bouncers with Taijul finally gloving one through to Saha.

Mushfiqur, who had added only six more singles to his overnight score by then, then got a six off a top-edged hook and started to score more freely. A misfield from Ishant at fine leg brought up the century. Mushfiqur wasn`t done yet as he targeted Ashwin after spin was introduced only in the second hour, hitting him for two fours and a six. Jadeja and Ashwin remained persistent, though, and finally broke through.

Source : ESPNcricinfo