Following two rainy, non-cricket days at Green Park, Kanpur came alive on a bright Monday as the Indian batters smashed several Test records. Rohit Sharma extended the white-ball cricket blueprint that has brought him tremendous success in the past few years to red-ball cricket, hitting 23 off 11 balls. The rest of the Indian lineup then followed suit. Indian batters’ T20 batting style helped to become the fastest team to reach 50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 in men’s Test cricket. The hosts declared their first inning on 285 for 9 in just 34.4 overs with a lead of 52 runs. Earlier, Bangladesh were bowled out for 233.
Rohit and Yashasvi Jaiswal started attacking the Bangladesh bowlers right from ball one. India’s skipper Rohit blasted the first ball he faced for a huge six. Rohit and Jaiswal cracked fours and sixes all over the park, adding 50 runs in just three overs. Jaiswal top-scored with an excellent knock of 72 runs, smashing 12 fours and 2 sixes. Jaiswal now has 1166 runs in the World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle, the highest by an Indian and the second-highest behind Joe Root in the 2023-25 cycle. He also broke Ajinkya Rahane’s (1159 runs) record by becoming the player with the most runs in a single WTC cycle.
Despite losing wickets regularly, Indian batters kept their scoring pace high, maintaining momentum throughout their innings. Contributions from Shubman Gill (39), Virat Kohli (47), and KL Rahul (68) maintained the aggressive tempo. Indian batters’ intent to push for a result was evident, considering two days of play were washed out due to rain and a wet outfield.
Meanwhile, Kohli created history and broke Sachin Tendulkar’s record during the Day 4 play. Kohli became the quickest batter to complete 27000 runs in international cricket. The 35-year-old cricketer is the only batter in world cricket to complete 27000 runs in less than 600 innings.
Rahul, on the other hand, frequently played the sweep and reverse sweep shots and never once faltered. He was comfortable with the somewhat slow speed on the surface and was able to capitalize on any width. Rahul blasted his fastest Test fifty, coming off 33 balls, while putting on masterclass batting against spinners. But India went from 269/5 to 284/9 just before declaring their innings.
Indian bowlers need to wrap up things quickly, picking up seven wickets on the final day. So, the batters could continue their onslaught on the Bangladesh bowlers and win the match to secure the test series 2-0. Currently, Rohit Sharma-led men top the World Test Championship (WTC) table. A 2-0 series win against Bangladesh would strengthen their position for a third consecutive final appearance.
However, if the Kanpur Test ends in a draw, India will face a tougher challenge, needing to win five out of their remaining eight matches in the WTC cycle. Following the Bangladesh series, India is set to host New Zealand for a three-test series in October before touring Australia for a five-test series.
