Mushfiqur's varied responses to the same length
Mushfiqur Rahim has played the Indian spinners quite well in this match. Confidence in the forward defence has formed the foundation of his game. Bowlers try to target the good-length area and to counter that regularly you need a good defence. He has played with soft and high hands while keeping the bat ahead of the front pad. The second response to a same length ball is his wide range of sweep shots. He can play the ball fine, square and even drag it from outside off to hit towards midwicket. Once he was set, he started using his feet to drive through covers and down the ground. That forced spinners to drag the length shorter and he is quite good at cutting. A bit of a masterclass in playing spin.
A unique trigger movement
In his stance, Mushfiqur's back toe is on the middle stump and the front toe on the leg-stump mark. Most players either go back and across or have a forward press, but Mushfiqur is different. He goes slightly towards square leg with the back leg, which leads to the front foot falling across. He makes up for it by playing late.
Bhuvneshwar's first four balls
Bowling the first over of the day, Bhuvneshwar Kumar brought the first ball in, and swung the next one away. Then, he went to the corner of the crease, for the first time in the match, and kept the shine as if he was bowling an outswinger but used the angle to bring it in. He followed it with the sucker ball from the middle of the box, which finished within the stumps and dismissed Mehedi Hasan. It was a good example of using the crease and the old ball well.
Yorkers gone missing
While everyone has, quite rightly, appreciated the Indian seamers' ability to reverse swing, the absence of yorkers has left a little void. Shoaib Akhtar's suggestion for the old ball is to target the nose and the toes: bowl a couple of bouncers to soften the target and then follow it up with a few toe-crushers, especially when bowling to the tail.
Captain's hunch
At the start of the fourth day, Umesh Yadav gave his hat and sunglasses to the umpire to prepare for the first over before Virat Kohli intervened. He asked Bhuvneshwar to bowl that over and told Umesh to bowl from the other end. As luck would have it, Bhuvneshwar dismissed Mehedi on the fourth ball. Cricket captaincy is a lot about hunch and gut-feeling, and Kohli's decision was a fine example of that.
Tamim's distinctive front-foot defence
Tamim Iqbal is one of the four Bangladesh batsmen who've scored more that 3000 Test runs, and is currently their leading run-scorer in the format. He has a unique way of defending the fast bowlers on the front foot, for his front toe never touches the ground. While he allows the ball to come to him and is a fluent player on the front foot, the toe in the air suggests he would not be throwing his weight towards the ball. It's never a bad idea to bowl full and a little wide early on.