Magnificent Rishabh Pant, steady Shreyas Iyer take India to 226 for 4 at tea

Rishabh Pant once again brought his A game to the fore with a counterattacking unbeaten 86 as India reached 226 for four at tea on the second day of the second Test to wrest the control back from Bangladesh here on FridayPant had the dependable Shreyas Iyer 58 batting for company as they added 132 runs for the unbroken fifth wicket stand with as many as 140 runs scored in the sedond session of the dayIndia now trail Bangladesh by just one run and are bracing up for a fourday finish with a sizeable first innings leadPant literally manhandled the Bangladeshi spin troika by smashing five sixes two off Taijul Islam a couple off Mehidy Hasan Miraz and one off Shakib Al HasanThere were six boundaries too in his 89ball knock so far Pant is approaching his sixth Test hundredIndia were in trouble at 94 for four when Virat Kohli 24 73 balls once again nicked one off Taskin Ahmed outside the offstump channel before Pant propelled the Indian inningsTaijul 355 the leftarm spinner who had somewhat rocked India on the second morning with wickets of skipper KL Rahul 10 Shubman Gill 20 and Cheteshwar Pujara 24 was made to look pedestrian by the maverick keeperbatter from RourkeeHe hammered Taijul into submission by repeatedly dancing down the track and carting him either in the arc between the midwicket and longon or by lofting him down the groundAlso readIndia vs Bangladesh Shubman Gill Cheteshwar Pujara in tonaton moodThe most exhilarating one was a onehanded downtheground shot off rival captain Shakib And it was not at all surprising when he repeated the stuff off Miraz over longon for a 100metre long maximumThe Bangladeshi bowlers who were pumped up at the lunch break had drooped shoulders by the time tea was calledPants beast mode did rub off on Iyer as he also lofted Miraz for his first six and duly completed his second halfcentury of the series with a singleEarlier having misread the track on day one Rahul paid the price for his ultra defensive mindset on a pitch that offered fair bit of turn on the opening day itselfNot for once during his 45ball stay did he look comfortable save the cover driven boundary off a seamer at the start of the day Gill on the other end looked more assured even as Taijul kept his deliveries on good length and bowled a nice trajectoryThe delivery that got Rahul seemed like an armer that came in with the angle and then straightened enough to trap him infront of the wickets Umpire had dismissed the LBW plea but Bangladesh got the decision in their favour after taking DRS reviewIn case of Gill it was more of a straightforward decision where he was caught plumb as he missed the straighter one while attempting a sweep shotPujara looked assured till the time he was at the crease but with the deliveries stopping and turning there was always the danger of negotiating that ball which would send him backThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever