Dhaka, Jan. 26: Injury-wracked India would have hoped they would not need to bat again in this second Test match, particularly after having run up a sizeable 311-run first innings lead early on the third day at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium here on Tuesday.
Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal however virtually made sure the visitors would need to take guard once again as he made mincemeat of the Indian bowling before falling, with minutes to go for the close of play to leave matters in the balance, and two days to go.
The pitch rolled out into a batting beauty and first Mahendra Singh Dhoni (89) and then Tamim (151) and Junaid Siddique made full use of the conditions to make hay. It was only thanks to sterling work by Zaheer Khan that the hosts ended on 228/3.
Getting the ball to reverse late in the day, Zaheer first broke the record 200-run stand for the second wicket between Tamim and Siddique (55, 144b, 201m, 5x4) and then dismissed the centurion in the day’s penultimate over.
The India skipper missed out on his fifth Test hundred though, hampered by a lack of partners as Yuvraj Singh was ruled unfit to bat suddenly even though team administrative manager Arshad Ayub had on Monday night suggested the left-hander had recovered from a hand injury.
Despite the assurance, Yuvraj did not bat or field, which raises the question, was Ayub briefed correctly before summoning the media to the team hotel late on Monday evening. That however, is for another day.
Tuesday saw the bowlers on both side toil, Bangladesh till lunch when India declared at 544/8, 311 ahead of the Bangladesh first innings total of 233, and the Indians thereafter.
Two hours into the Tigers’ second innings, the Indian lead suddenly looked a lot smaller with Tamim blazing his way to the quickest Test century by a Bangladeshi batsman. His 151 was seven runs shy of the team record held by Mohammad Ashraful, also made against India at Chittagong in December 2004.
A measure of the benign nature of the pitch came from Tamim, who later said that he was encouraged to hit against the line when he hardly saw any turn when Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha were bowling. A large percentage of the left-hander’s runs — and a very high percentage of his 18 boundaries came from shots on the leg-side, mainly pulls and sweeps.
In the morning, with Rahul Dravid unable to bat and Yuvraj suddenly unavailable, it was left to Dhoni and the tail to extend the overnight 226-run lead. Zaheer fell quickly and it was thanks to Shakib Al Hasan’s defensive tactics — akin to those of his counterpart — that Dhoni, Ishant Sharma and Ojha got as many runs as they did.
For the seventh wicket, Dhoni and Ishant put on 51 runs and another 26 came with Ojha at the crease. The two bowlers contributed 13 and 1 respectively as India added 77 to the total.
Tamim then made the proceedings all his own with a trademark innings, his blistering drives interspersed with pulls and sweeps. He raced to the 100 mark with a gloved pull off Zaheer that came in a mere 101 balls — stunning stuff given the situation of his team — and included 13 boundaries and two sixes.
Rahul Banerji
