da apostaganha： A impressive unbeaten 96 from Mahmudullah rescued the Bangladesh innings from utter ignominy, but the starts squandered by other batsmen werethreatening to haunt them by day’s end, as India knocked off 69 runs fromjust 13 overs, with Virender Sehwag cr
The Bulletin by Dileep Premachandran24-Jan-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outIshant Sharma was India’s most successful bowler with four wickets•Associated Press
An impressive unbeaten 96 from Mahmudullah rescued the Bangladesh inningsfrom utter ignominy, but the starts squandered by other batsmen werethreatening to haunt them by day’s end, as India knocked off 69 runs fromjust 13 overs, with Virender Sehwag cruising to 41 not out. With theconditions likely to be most batsmen-friendly on the second day,Bangladesh were left to reflect on an opportunity squandered after winningthe toss. Both Mohammad Ashraful and Shakib Al Hasan got out to appallingstrokes, and it was left to Mahmudullah to lead Bangladesh to 233 allout, a significant improvement on the 51 for 5 that the scoreboard showedwhen Ashraful had his brain fade.The last two wickets added 78, with Shafiul Islam defying India for 39balls and Rubel Hossain keeping out 25 before Harbhajan Singh sneaked onethrough his defence to leave Mahmudullah stranded. He had struck two foursin a Harbhajan over to get within touching distance, but after nearly 30overs of batting with No.10 and Jack, his luck ran out. As he walked offthough, several Indian fielders ran up to shake his hand. It had been thatkind of innings.He had marked his guard after Mushfiqur Rahim, centurion in Chittagong,had been trapped on the crease by Ishant Sharma. He eased nerves with aneat glance for four off Zaheer Khan and then continued to go for hisshots once Shakib had chased a wide one from Zaheer into the hands of MSDhoni. Zaheer was then pulled and upper-cut for four and after ShahadatHossain went, stumped off the bowling of Pragyan Ojha, he swept andreverse-swept Harbhajan to keep the Indians on their toes.A cover-drive that Ojha couldn’t stop at the boundary took him to hishalf-century from 71 balls, and he continued to sweep and cut as Shafiuloffered stout resistance at one end. It was all a far cry from themorning, when one batsman after another appeared to be in a hurry to getback to the comforts of the pavilion.They were not helped by the first decision going against them either.Ishant’s first ball, the seventh of the innings, was heading down the legside when it deflected off something on its way to Dhoni’s gloves. TheIndians went up in appeal, and so did Billy Bowden’s crooked finger,though replays subsequently showed that the ball had brushed Imrul Kayes’ thighpad.Tamim Iqbal had walked the talk on the eve of the game, but the onlywalking he did was on his way back, bowled off the pad after a statuesquewaft against a Zaheer delivery that nipped back. Soon after, JunaidSiddique, who had replaced Shahriar Nafees at No.3, followed him, glovinga pull down the leg side for Dhoni to take. Troubled by the short ball,his attempt to hit his way out of trouble came to naught.Ashraful was having a go at everything pitched up to him, and while therewere a couple of fortuitous inside edges, he also played superb strokesoff his pads and through cover. But the innings still lacked any hint ofstability, with Raqibul Hasan’s vigil ended by a thick edge off Ishantthat Rahul Dravid took easily at second slip. Pushed back by a successionof short balls, Raqibul couldn’t resist the one pitched up.Ojha came on in the 13th over and Ashraful announced his intentions with aflail through the covers. This though is a batsman who shows no sign ofmaturity even after eight years as a Test cricketer, and aheadless-chicken charge off the next delivery presented Dhoni with thesimplest of stumpings. He had made 39 from just 31 balls.Mushfiqur carried on where he left off in Chittagong with some pleasingdrives and cuts either side of lunch, and Shakib followed suit, but it wasleft to Mahmudullah to surpass the 69 he made in Chittagong and bringsomething substantial to the proceedings.Sehwag came out in typically forthright fashion, cutting, driving andworking the ball off his toes as the runs accumulated at a fair clip. Andafter a sedate start, Gambhir joined in with some attacking strokes as themost prolific opening pair in world cricket set about showing Bangladesh’stop order just how to build a Test innings.