Zaheer Khan inspires India to victory over Bangladesh
Zaheer Khan ripped through Bangladesh's brittle batting line-up as India secured a 2-0 series victory with a comprehensive 10-wicket win in Mirpur.
The left-arm seamer finished with a career-best 7-87 as the hosts, who began the day on 228-3, collapsed to 312 all out before lunch.
Zaheer cleaned up the tail with four wickets in eight balls setting India only two runs to clinch the match.
Those two runs came in byes from the second ball as India romped to victory.
It looked like being a far more challenging day for the tourists after nightwatchman Shahadat Hossain shared 68 for the fourth wicket with Mohammad Ashraful.
Having begun the penultimate day with their side 83 runs in arrears they reduced the deficit to 21 and batted well beyond the first drinks interval.
After Zaheer and Ishant Sharma failed to break through, left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha was introduced but Shahadat launched him for a towering six in his opening over.
Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was brought into the attack and should have struck with his second ball when Shahadat skewed to wide mid-on, but substitute Amit Mishra fumbled the chance.
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Finally in the 20th over of the morning Shahadat danced down the wicket and tried to hit Harbhajan for six, but could only find long-on, where Mishra this time made no mistake.
Ojha then removed Ashraful in the next over, the batsman feathering an edge to India captain and wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and though Shakib Al Hasan thumped his first delivery into the the sightscreen for six there was little else to cheer for the Tigers.
Zaheer took three wickets in an over but was denied a hat-trick as Rubel Hossain steered a full ball on his pads safely to square-leg.
Mushfiqur Rahim hit two fours in an over from Harbhajan to guide Bangladesh to lunch, but in the first over after the resumption Zaheer uprooted Hossain's off-stump and claimed his maiden 10-wicket haul.
"Zaheer's spell was remarkable as I felt it was a fantastic wicket to bat on," said India captain Dhoni.
"It was a difficult task to get 10 wickets in the second innings as there was nothing in the pitch to help either fast bowlers or spinners."
Opposite number Shakib Al Hasan bemoaned the batting frailty which is preventing his side becoming a more potent force in Test cricket.
"We didn't bat well for two hours in the match that's why we lost - first hour in the first innings on the opening day and an hour before lunch today.
"Every time someone is getting runs, but we need two or three guys to score in each innings and that's something that we need to improve," Shakib commented.
Bangladesh next take on New Zealand in a Twenty20 game, three 50-over internationals and a single Test, while India face a tougher assignment against South Africa following their return home.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk
