The first test match between India and Bangladesh began at Chittagong on Friday with the master blaster Sachin Tendulkar and Bengal tiger Saurav Ganguly unbeaten on 80 and 84 respectively. India was well cushioned at 295 for three at stumps at the end of the opening day.
Winning the toss and electing to bat, India started off disastrously as Mashrafe Mortaza clean-bowled opener Wasim Jaffer on the very first delivery of the match. The captain Rahul Dravid and opener Dinesh Karthick consolidated the innings and put on 124 runs together before both fell within the space of 12 balls. Yet, till they batted, they toiled for their runs with classy Karthick making runs in a flourish but perishing playing a pull at an individual score of 56 that contained nine hits to the boundary. Dravid, who faced 99 balls and scoring 61 displayed great exuberance hitting 11 fours.
Sachin and Saurav, who had to prove a point to their critics, cunningly exploited the foundation laid by both the captain and the opener. The duo motivated and supported each other and were quite exciting to watch. Tendulkar hit seven fours in his unbeaten knock and looked concentrated for a big innings. While Ganguly, was typically adventurous hitting left arm spinner Mohammad Rafique for two sixes. At the end of the day, both had raised 163 runs for the fourth wicket.
Earlier, India took a painful decision in keeping V V S Laxman and Yuvraj Singh out of the playing eleven, going in with five bowlers. Sachin will be the vice-captain for the Test series.
An hour was lost in the afternoon due to light drizzle and the day’s overall play was curtailed due to fading light, so only 77 overs were possible. With the rain disrupting the match even on the second day, it is hoped that the rain God might give way to the Sun God, so that the match begins.
via:NDTV
