Chittagong, Jan 17 (Inditop.com) India’s vaunted batting line-up crumbled in the face of some disciplined bowling by Bangladesh on the first day of the first cricket Test here Sunday.
An “ordinary” Test side is how stand-in-skipper Virender Sehwag chose to describe Bangladesh on the eve of the match. A day later, at stumps Sunday, India’s batting lay in tatters. The same bunch of boys had reduced the world’s best Test side to 213 for eight. Sachin Tendulkar was guiding the Indian innings, batting on 76, and giving him company was Ishant Sharma (1) at the other end.
Bangladesh looked an inspired bunch. Skipper Shakib Al Hasan led from the front, taking four for 52 while paceman Shahadat Hossain (4-51) used the overcast conditions well to scythe through the top order.
After a delayed 90-minute start due to dense fog, Shakib put India in to bat after winning the toss. Sehwag (52) and Gambhir (23) betted steadily in the first session as India reached 63 for no loss.
It was after lunch that Bangladesh bowlers turned on the heat and ran through the Indian batting. The visitors lost six wickets in the second session, scoring only 97 runs.
Sehwag looked in fine touch as he stroked three fours off Shahadat in the first over after lunch to reach his half-century off 45 balls, the fastest fifty by an Indian against Bangladesh.
But in the next over Sehwag, who stroked nine fours in his 51-ball innings, was caught by Tamim Iqbal at short extra cover off Shakib. It triggered a collapse. Two balls later, Gambhir edged a Shahadat delivery and Mushfiqur Rahim made no mistake behind the stumps.
Rahul Dravid (4) followed soon after and India were left struggling at 85 for three.
VVS Laxman (7) and Tendulkar added a painstaking 22 runs off 67 balls before the former was stumped by wicketkeeper Mushfiqur off Shakib.
Tendulkar was lucky to survive a dropped chance on 16 on a Shafiul Islam delivery as Imrul Kayes couldn’t hold on to the catch at first slip.
Tendulkar reached his 55th half-century in Tests to keep India’s hopes alive. When on 30, Tendulkar surpassed 13,000 Test runs.
Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh (12) added 42 runs before the latter hit a full-toss straight to Rubel Hossain at mid-on off Shakib.
Shahadat then dismissed Dinesh Karthik, who was out without opening his account. India were at 160 for six at tea.
Tendulkar batted around Mishra (14) and Zaheer Khan (11) to take India past 200. Only 18 overs were possible after tea as umpires offered the light to Indian batsmen and play was called off 27 overs short for the day.