DHAKA, Bangladesh (AFP) — Shreyas Iyer and Ravichandran Ashwin held firm as India beat Bangladesh in a thrilling second Test on Sunday, dashing hopes in Dhaka of a first-ever win over their giant neighbours.

India needed just 145 to win the match and the series 2-0 but the visitors in the end won by only three wickets in a nail-biting morning’s play on day four in Dhaka.

Bangladesh overcame India in the preceding 50-over series but have never beaten them in a Test. India had won 10 of the teams’ previous 12 Tests, including five victories by an innings.

India won the first Test comfortably by 188 runs in Chittagong and were widely expected to romp home in the second game, cementing their position in second place in the ICC World Test Championship.

India bowled Bangladesh out on Saturday for a sub-par 231 but the home side’s spinners Mehidy Hasan and Shakib Al Hasan then reduced the visitors to 45-4 at stumps with 100 still to chase.

Shakib started the slide with the wicket of Captain KL Rahul for two and then Mehidy claimed Cheteshwar Pujara, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli — all for single-digit scores.

Bangladesh then reduced India to 74-7 when play resumed on Sunday but Shreyas (29 not out) and Ashwin (42 not out) put on 71 runs in an unbroken eighth-wicket stand to steer India home.

Mehidy was the stand-out bowler for Bangladesh in the second innings, finishing with 5-63, which included two wickets in the morning.

SCOREBOARD

Bangladesh first innings 227 all out (Mominul Haque 84;

Umesh Yadav 4-25, Ravichandran Ashwin 4-71)

India first innings 314 all out (Rishabh 93, Shreyas Iyer

87; Taijul Islam 4-74, Shakib Al Hasan 4-79)

Bangladesh second innings 231 all out (Liton Das 73,

Zakir Hasan 51; Axar Patel 3-68)

India second innings (45-4 overnight)

Shubman Gill st Nurul b Mehidy 7

KL Rahul c Nurul b Shakib 2

Cheteshwar Pujara st Nurul b Mehidy 6

Axar Patel b Mehidy 34

Virat Kohli c Mominul b Mehidy 1

Jaydev Unadkat lbw b Shakib 13

Rishabh Pant lbw b Mehidy 9

Shreyas Iyer not out 29

Ravichandran Ashwin not out 42

Extras (b1, lb1) 2

Total (seven wickets; 47 overs) 145

Did not bat: Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj

Fall of wickets: 1-3 (Rahul), 2-12 (Pujara), 3-29 (Gill),

4-37 (Kohli), 5-56 (Unadkat), 6-71 (Pant), 7-74 (Axar)

Bowling: Shakib 14-0-50-2, Taijul 11-4-14-0, Mehidy 19-

4-63-5 Taskin 1-0-4-0, Khaled 2-0-12-0

Result: India win by three wickets

Series result: India win series 2-0

Toss: Bangladesh

Umpires: Chris Brown (NZL), Sharfuddoula Saikat (BAN)

TV Umpire: Michael Gough (ENG)

Match Referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI)