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India predictably won the first Test at Chittagong taking the remaining eight wickets of an inexperienced and amatuerish Bangladesh. The only resistance came from little Mushfiqur Rahim, who went onto score a maiden Test hundred. Courtesy of that knock, the Bangladeshis delayed the inevitable by lasting a little over 75 overs. The match was wrapped up in the extended afternoon session with India winning by 113 runs.
The final day appeared to be a non-starter for atleast a couple of hours because of thick fog conditions, it was the worst in the last five days. But magically, the sun came out and play started according to the original scheduled time of 10:00 AM. India struck very early in the 5th over of the morning with Mohammad Ashraful (27 from 32 balls) attempting a drive on the up off Ishant but only to get caught in the slips. After eight overs, Ishant Sharma got his man – Raqibul Hasan, who had a torrid time facing the induckers, one of which had even hit him on the elbow. Raqibul was late to bring his bat down to a sharp inswinger to be plumb infront of the off stump.
India rounded off the first session with the wicket of the solid looking opener Tamim Iqbal though he played a very loose shot to get out. Virender Sehwag it was getting a cheap wicket to break what was looking to be a decent partnership between Tamim and Shakib. Tamim Iqbal (52 from 122 balls with 6 fours) had gone after a wide off break that too on the up and could only foolishly edge it to Dravid having gone past his fifty. Bangladesh at lunch were 136 for 5 in 43 overs.
After the lunch break, India unexpectedly got the wicket of Shakib Al Hasan in quicktime. Amit Mishra got his confidence boosted when he got his top spinner absolutely spot on to force an unaware Shakib Al Hasan (17) to jab it on the frontfoot to silly point. After Shakib, it was first innings hero Mahmudullah who came in and took on a charged up Zaheer Khan. It was a hot contest in the middle with the bowler banging a lot of short balls and the tall tight hander going after them with cuts and pulls. It was the experienced Zaheer having the last laugh with Mahmudullah (20 from 25 balls with 4 fours) edging his forcing cut to the Keeper.
Mushfiqur Rahim after getting out to a rank bad shot in the first innings was determined to keep a price on his wicket this time and the shot selection was very precise. The diminutive youngster got Shahadat Hossain to rally along with him and the luck was with the duo as India was kept frustrated through a 60-run stand. Mishra broke the partnership by foxing Shahadat (24) with a googly that skidded through the gate in the 64th over. Mishra got his third wicket when he took a smart low catch off his own bowling to dismiss Shafiul Islam. Mushfiqur Rahim now left with just the no.11 did extremely well to bring up a maiden century thanks to Rubel Hossain’s decent defences. Rahim (101 from 114 balls with 17 fours and a six) was the last to fall when he miscued Mishra to long off. Bangladesh did alright to end up with a total of 301.
Ishant Sharma was the best of the bowlers with 3 for 48 in 15 overs. Amit Mishra got 4 for 92 to take his match tally to 7 wickets. The leggie is a must in the team against Bangladesh as their batsmen get tempted to play fancy shots to give away free wickets. Sreesanth had a bad match having no rhythm at all. He bowled a total of 10 no balls and could well miss the next Test at Dhaka because of straining his hamstring. The Man of the Match award went to the legend – Sachin Tendulkar whose century in the first innings saved India from a possible embarassment.