Honk Honk.. we are just two days away as we countdown to the World Test Championship 2023 final.

Chapter five of our Road to the WTC Final 2023 sees the Indian cricket team travel east to take on neighbours Bangladesh in a two-Test series. Despite missing a few key players - including skipper Rohit Sharma - under stand-in captain KL Rahul, India romped off to an *ahem* hard-fought 2-0 win.

Here’s a short account of all that transpired in this series.

The 1st Test | Chattogram - India win 

Intent. This one word served as the driving force for India to complete a 188-run victory.

India won the toss, batted first, and posted 404 in their first innings. Despite some early hiccups, the visitors rode on half-centuries from Cheteshwar Pujara (90), Shreyas Iyer (86) and Ravichandran Ashwin (58) to wade off Taijul Islam (4/133) and Mehidy Hasan Miraz (4/112).

Kuldeep Yadav (5/40) and Mohammed Siraj (3/20) then took over as the hosts were bundled out for 150. Thanks to Shubman Gill’s maiden Test ton (110) and Pujara’s 102 not out, it was advantage for India as they declared their second innings at 258/2d, handing Bangladesh a target of 513.

Could BAN chase? They tried. But were still some distance away. Zakir Hasan (100) and fifty-plus scores from skipper Shakib Al Hasan (84) and Najmul Hossain Shanto (67) lifted Bangladesh past 300, but the counter-attack from Axar Patel (4/77) and Kuldeep (3/73) proved more decisive.

The 2nd Test | Mirpur - India win 

Never say never again. Just edge-of-the-seat, edge-of-the-knife thrilling stuff this!

Kuldeep, the hero of the previous Test was left out of this one. It was the turn of another fellow Yadav - Umesh (4/25) - to take over the mantle to impress, leading India’s charge to restrict Bangladesh to 227 in 73.5 overs. In reply, Shakib Al Hasan and Taijul Islam grabbed four-fers but were subject to proper spin-batting masterclasses by Rishabh Pant (93) and Shreyas Iyer (87), who lifted India to 314.

Although handed a target of 145 in the fourth innings, India struggled initially. Reduced to 74/7 within 30 overs, it really seemed like Bangladesh were on course to claim their first-ever Test win against India. Nah, Ashwin and Iyer weren’t letting them. With an unbeaten 71-run stand for the eighth-wicket, they salvaged a come-from-behind win for India and a 2-0 whitewash over Bangladesh.