After all the talk about ordinary bowling attacks, it was the batting of the two teams that has come a cropper in the 1st Test between India and Bangladesh. On day 2, Indians managed to add 30 runs to the overnight score to finish at 243, with the "little" master standing tall among the wreckage, unbeaten on 105. It was then the turn of the hosts batsmen to falter, with 3 wickets falling in quick time after a steady start. But for bad light halting play, with no more play possible beyond the 17 overs in the Bangladeshi innings. Just 24.2 overs were bowled throughout the day and in all, one full day's was already lost in the match. With more fog and even rain forecast for the coming days, a result in this match on a sporting wicket looks highly unlikely at this stage.There was something to cheer for the Indian fans even in this highly truncated day, with Sachin Tendulkar scoring yet another hundred. This was his 44th Test Century, among the more crucial ones for the team. He took calculated risks to score some valuable runs for the team. The Bangladeshi Skipper made it tough to score runs with spread out fields of up to 7 outfielders for first four balls of an over and then bringing them all in to contain singles. Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth hung around for just enough time for the master blaster to reach his 100. The knock was the face saver for India, but the tale would have been completely different had Sachin not been dropped when on 16.
With the Bangladeshi batsmen looking to go after the bowling, the score moved along quickly past 50. It was not until Sreesanth was replaced by Ishant that Indians could keep the run scoring in check. They certainly couldn't afford to over attack and give away easy runs as they had very little runs to play with. Zaheer Khan finally broke through after a long spell, in which he came agonizingly close to getting wickets a few times, getting Kayes lbw after being turned down an appeal two balls ago. Ishant then got Nafees caught at slip of a beautiful rising leg-cutter that the batsman couldn't negotiate despite standing way outside the crease to counter the swing. Zaheer Khan finally got the big fish Tamim Iqbal clean bowled in the next over to make it 3 wickets in 3 overs . Another in-swinger did the trick with the low bounce making the ball creep through the defenses of the batsman to make a mess of the stumps. 53/0 became 58/3 and Indian was all over Bangladesh. The batsmen understandably accpeted the light and went in, to do some hard thinking. The Indians on the other hand would have breathed a sigh of relief after their bowling effort and would feel they could run through the opposition weather permitting.
With the Bangladeshi batsmen looking to go after the bowling, the score moved along quickly past 50. It was not until Sreesanth was replaced by Ishant that Indians could keep the run scoring in check. They certainly couldn't afford to over attack and give away easy runs as they had very little runs to play with. Zaheer Khan finally broke through after a long spell, in which he came agonizingly close to getting wickets a few times, getting Kayes lbw after being turned down an appeal two balls ago. Ishant then got Nafees caught at slip of a beautiful rising leg-cutter that the batsman couldn't negotiate despite standing way outside the crease to counter the swing. Zaheer Khan finally got the big fish Tamim Iqbal clean bowled in the next over to make it 3 wickets in 3 overs . Another in-swinger did the trick with the low bounce making the ball creep through the defenses of the batsman to make a mess of the stumps. 53/0 became 58/3 and Indian was all over Bangladesh. The batsmen understandably accpeted the light and went in, to do some hard thinking. The Indians on the other hand would have breathed a sigh of relief after their bowling effort and would feel they could run through the opposition weather permitting.
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