Advantage Bangladesh on Day One by Rohit Sakunia

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Scorecard:	Bangladesh v India
Player:	V Sehwag, Shahadat Hossain, Shakib Al Hasan, SR Tendulkar
Event:	India in Bangladesh 2009/10

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DateLine: 17th January 2010

 

For most this game began last evening when at the press conference Sehwag in his usual belligerent style dismissed Bangladesh as an "ordinary" side and said that they would not be able to surprise India in the longer version of the game. Jamie Siddons, the Bangladesh coach during his conference came down hard, saying Sehwag should keep the mike away from his mouth and that his side would hopefully prove Sehwag wrong. How well his lads responded as the number one Test side of the world had their backs to the wall after the end of Day One. Had Bangladesh picked up the couple of chances given by Tendulkar, India would have been in further dire straights.

 

Early in the day, the game started after a 90-minute delay because of fog and murky light. Shakib-ul-Hasan won the toss and put India in. Such was the first session batting by the Indian openers that Shakib for sure would have thought whether he made a right decision or not. In the 13 overs that were bowled in the truncated session, India had raced to 63 for no loss. Things didn't change immediately after the break as well, as Sehwag hit Shahadat for three boundaries in an over, and in the process raised his fifty at more than a run a ball.

 

All though was not going right for Sehwag as Shakib's consistent turn kept him in check. The Indian opener had to abort aggressive shots on a regular basis because of being beaten in flight and time and again he was rapped on the pads by the quicker ones. He eventually lost patience and hit a shortish delivery straight to short cover.

 

That gave Bangladesh the opening they were so desparate for. Gautam Gambhir, who till then had remained in his shell, and hardly tried to touch anything outside off went to cut a wide delivery from Shahadat and edged it for the keeper to latch a sitter. Dravid came in at a familiar situation but looked rusty during his brief stay and then played all around a swinging yorker from Shahadat Hossain, making it 85/3 for the visitors. From here on it was only the home side which dominated the day. Even the likes of Sachin Tendulkar could not break free and hit boundaries. Shakib and Shahadat were in between of a real good spell and for 13.4 overs not a single boundary came.

 

While Shahadat bowled in short spells and kept picking wickets whenever he came to bowl, Shakib continued and kept the pressure on, bowling unchanged through the middle session and most of the last one as well. Laxman who had come in to replace Dravid struggled badly to get off strike. His misery finally got over when in trying to drive Shakib, he overbalanced and missed the ball, which took the inside edge onto the pad, and then rolled along to an alert Mushfiqur Rahim, who found Laxman short of his crease.

 

Laxman's misery end began Yuvraj's. Surprisingly the left-hander didn't choose to counterattack and remained subdued for his entire stay at the crease. The role certainly didn't suit him as for most part of his stay he looked out of sorts. Then caught totally in the defensive frame of mind, Yuvraj lobbed a gentle leg-side full toss down to mid-on's throat who took a sitter.

 

Shakib immediately brought Shahadat back after Yuvraj's wicket, and Karthik drove at a wide delivery and edged low to gully. India had lost 6 wickets in the session and Bangladesh skipper had now been proven right in his decision to field first. Post tea, Amit Mishra and Tendulkar added 32 runs before a brilliant yorker from Shahadat Hossain found Mishra plumb in front. Getting the cue Tendulkar took on the Bangladesh bowling and alongside Zaheer added some quick runs. Zaheer also played his shots and the two looked like taking India to somewhere close to respectability. But after adding 27 runs, Shakib got Zaheer to inside edge one and silly point made no mistake in grabbing a good catch.Bad light then came to India's rescue who went into close of play at 213 for the loss of eight wickets, handing the hosts the advantage on Day One.