India press towards victory

So, finally there's hope of getting a result in the weather battered 1st Test between India and Bangladesh. Bangladesh facing a daunting target of 414 runs to win, set up by Gautam Gambhir's 9th Test Hundred, were 67/2 at stumps, and would be hoping for some weather interruptions to eke out a draw. The Indians would feel they could force the issue on the day 5 track.

Starting the day on 122/1, Gautam Gambhir and night watchman Amit Mishra started off positively, scoring freely at fair pace. The leggie Mishra notched up his maiden Test Half Century after playing sensibly. He soon perished trying to up the ante, but Gambhir marched along all the way to the three figure mark. This was the 5th 100 in as many consecutive matches for Gambhir, a record for an Indian. This was also his 8th hundred in last 10 matches. He was positive and played with controlled aggression right from the start. He once again showed why he was chosen as the ICC Test Player of the Year for '08-'09. He would be looking to notch up another 100 in the next Test to equal the Great Donald Bradman's record of 6 consecutive centuries. He certainly is scoring runs at will.

The other batsmen were not even as good as Mishra let alone Gambhir, as wickets fell in regulart intervals. In fact, ther was not a single century partnership in the innings and no 50 run stands either after the 1st two wickets. Dravid paid the praise for some Sehwag-like complacency of not grounding the bat, as Shakib-Al-Hasan threw a direct hit. Tendulkar couldn't keep away an incoming delivery from thudding his pads plumb, and Yuvraj brought back memories of his travails in Test Cricket until last year again. He was constantly trouble by the short stuff and finally ended up with a soft dismissal hitting a full delivery straight to short cover. Dinesh Karthick too perished in search of quick runs after a few reverse sweeps and pulls. VVS Laxman was the only middle order batsman to play an innings of substance, remaining unbeaten on 69. He struggled with his running between the wickets more than usual, and also to up the ante towards the end as well. He mostly relied on singles and few twos, and rare stylish boundaries. India though played for bit too many overs than required, even after getting to 384/7 at tea, with Zaheer Khan going berserk with three boundaries in the last over prior to the interval. One thought the Indians were probably targeting 400, but that too didn't bring the signal from the Skipper Virender Sehwag, who kept everyone waiting for few more overs, until the score read 413/8. He certainly had no plans to continue if the penultimate wicket had fallen as last man Sreesanth was seen warming up to bowl. This was to avoid some embarrassment to himself by not letting Bangladesh get 20 Indian wickets in the match, something the Delhi dasher had scoffed at prior to the match.

The Bangladeshis were clearly out of the game once India piled on their agony going past 300. Despite the track being good for batting, their batters would struggle to even force a draw against some quality Indian bowling. They certainly don't have a solid player in their side who could bat out a day. Their task got even more tougher with two wickets falling in the 18 overs bowled late in the day. Opener Imrul Kayes and No. 3 Shahriar Nafees fell caught behind and caught at gully to Zaheer and Ishant Sharma respectively. Zaheer troubled the batsmen throughout his 8-over spell and should have got Nafees' wicket as well, but Laxman dropped an easy chance at 2nd slip. One was wondering why was he standing at that position with injured fingers, when Dravid was available. Ishant made up for that by setting up Nafees beautifully with an incoming delivery that barely missed the stumps and then getting his man with the one that moved away. Sehwag pulled off a smart catch at gully barely inches from the ground. Sreesanth was disappointing and never looked like getting a wicket. All the bowlers though will have to bowl really well to force a win for the World No. 1 in the limited overs they would get to bowl. Another bright sunny day would help for some great action on the final day.