A lesson in how to extract Test wins

The Kanpur Test between hosts India and Bangladesh could be considered a reference point for teams in terms of how to force victories in the longest format of the game — an aspect that teams lean towards more nowadays, especially since the introduction of the World Test Championship (WTC).
Anything less than a 2-0 win in their home Test series against lower-ranked Bangladesh probably never even crossed the minds of Rohit Sharma and Co — apparent from the approach employed by India in their seven-wicket win in the final game of the two-Test series at the Green Park stadium on Tuesday.
The win saw India strengthen their position at the top of the WTC standings, and to do so, they did not budge from sidestepping the age-old Test cricket tradition of spending more time at the crease simply because there was no time left.
The urgency from India only made sense as they are the number two Test side and have not been able to get hold of the World Test Championship mace even after featuring in both the finals.
But the task was made steeper by something that was out of their hands as relentless rain had seen only 35 overs of play in the first three days of the fixture, forcing India to extract their desired result by playing just 312 deliveries — the least number of balls faced by any team in two innings of a game against Bangladesh in a winning cause in Tests.
Yashasvi Jaiswal struck Hasan Mahmud for three boundaries on the trot in the very first over while skipper Rohit hit two sixes off his first two deliveries in India’s first innings, making it clear that the hosts meant business when it came to executing their plans of going for the jugular.
India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin said after the game that they had planned to leave at least 80 overs aside for Bangladesh to bat in the second innings — a statement that only made things even more apparent that India backed their batting prowess to score runs in a T20 manner.
While India did exactly what they wanted to do, even if it meant that they had to opt for a unique and unconventional style of belligerent Test cricket, Bangladesh, on the contrary, were not able to do what the longest format actually demands.
When India had declared their first innings at 285 for nine with a 52-run lead and invited the Tigers to bat in their second innings late on Day 4, it only meant that the hosts would attempt to bowl out Bangladesh as cheaply as possible.
India’s objective of extracting a victory in a Test that saw action for just over two days was much tougher than what Bangladesh had to do — surviving out there in the middle for a few sessions. The Tigers slumped from 91 for three to 146 all out in their final innings, mostly by throwing their wickets away — setting a perfect example of what not to do in Test cricket.