Aminul sparkles on
lacklustre day
Ashish Magotra
If you are one of those who thought that Friday was a bad day for Indian cricket, Saturday was worse.
Bangladesh, resuming the second day of their inaugural Test against India at 239 for 6, must have been hoping to carry on in the same vein as Friday. And, as things turned out, they exceeded their expectations, scoring 400 in their first innings.
In reply, Inda were 81 for 1 at stumps.
India took the new ball in the 92nd over and were expected to gain a breakthrough immediately. But this is where Ganguly disappointed with his captaincy, which was really unimaginative. Zaheer Khan, who was one of the quicks who made an impression on Friday, was given just one over in the entire morning session.
It was not as if the other bowlers were bowling very well or anything even close to well. Tendulkar, who is a non regular bowler, bowled two overs. This brings us to the question, why have five bowlers in the side if we are not going to utilise them?
On the opening day it was Murali Karthik; on day 2 it was Zaheer Khan, both of whom must have been left wondering what did they do wrong?
Bangladesh did nothing out of the ordinary and reaped the benefits. Animul Islam became the third batsman from a nation in its first Test to go past the magical three-figure mark. Khaled Mashud, on the other hand, displayed a trait that will go a long way in making him a competent Test cricketer; it was the resolve to stay at the wicket.
At lunch, Bangladesh had seen off the morning session without losing a wicket as the total advanced to 302 for 6.
The post-lunch session was not too much different though it provided a firm reminder of the fact that Ganguly is captaining in his first Test, when he had only one close-in fielder, a slip.
In the circumstances, it was Joshi who got India the breakthrough. The first bowler to try something different, he went round the wicket, pitched the ball into the rough and the ball for once did something as Bangladesh lost their seventh wicket, Mashud (32) caught by SS Das at silly point, with the score on 324.
But he played his part in the highest partnership of the Bangladeshi innings, which was worth 93 runs. The fall of his wicket brought Mohd. Rafique to the crease and he didn't seem to think too much of the Indian bowlers. He treated them with disdain and suddenly the scoring rate rose.
The pair quickly added 30 runs before Mohd. Rafique departed, scoring a quickfire 22 off 29 deliveries. Tendulkar had him caught at silly point, with S.S.Das claiming another catch in the position.
Aminul Islam's marathon innings, which lasted close to nine hours, finally ended with a tired shot off the bowling of Agarkar, who was brought back into the attack rather belatedly. Trying to smash Agarkar over his head, he mistimed the drive and was caught by Srinath at mid-on with his score at 145 and the team's total 385 for 9.
The Bangladeshi innings folded at 400, the second highest score by a team in its inaugural Test. Joshi, the best Indian bowler on view ended up with figures of 5 for 142, his career-best.
Saba Karim, for one tried hard but he gave the impression that he is not yet back to full fitness and needs to play quite a lot of first class cricket to get back to the levels a Test wicket-keeper should operate on.
In the third session, Shiv Sundar Das and Sadagoppan Ramesh, the two Indian openers, begun the Indian innings on a positive note, scoring runs at a pretty decent rate with the 50 coming up in the 12th over. The Bangladeshi bowling was pretty mediocre and the openers had a feast, though it must be said that it is pretty difficult to judge the quality of an opening batsman against such a bowling attack.
The first Indian wicket to fall was that of Das, who was out-foxed by Naimur Rahman with the Indian innings at 66. Murali Karthik was sent in as a night-watchman.
India ended the day on 81 for 1 and it is likely that they too will bat in the same fashion as Bangladesh.
Sunday comes to us with the promise of getting the opportunity to watch Tendulkar and Ganguly in full flow in a Test match after a very long time. In fact, this is the first Test the Indian team is playing since the tour Down Under. India require another 319 runs to overhaul the Bangladeshi total.
Scoreboard
Bangladesh (1st innings) :
Shariar Hossain c Ganguly b Joshi 12
Mehrab Hossain c Saba Karim b Zahir Khan 4
Habibul Bashar c Ganguly b Khan 71
Aminul Islam c Srinath b Agarker 145
Akram Khan c Rahul b Joshi 35
Al-Shahrier lbw Agarkar 12
Naimur Rahman (captain) c Das b Joshi 15
Khaled Masud c Das b Joshi 32
Mohammad Rafiq c Das b Sachin 22
Hasibul Hassan not out 28
Bikash Ranjan Das c Ganguly b Joshi 2
Extras (b13, lb6, nb 3) 22
Total (all out, 153 overs) 400
Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-44, 3-110, 4-175, 5-196, 6-231, 7-324, 8-354, 9-385, 10-400
Bowling:
Srinath 22-9-47-0
Zahir 21-6-49-2
Agarkar 31-13-68-2
Joshi 45.3-8-142-5
Kartik 24-9-41-0
Sachin 10-2-34-1
India (1st innings):
Sadagoppan Romesh not out 40
S S Das b Naimur 29
Murli Kartik not out 7
Extras (b5) 5
Total (one wicket, 26 over 81
Fall of wicket: 1-66
Bowling
Hasibul 6-0-20-0
Bikash - 6-1-26-0
Naimur 7-3-9-1
Rafiq 5-2-15-0
Bashar 2-0-6-0
Mail Cricket Editor
