« Back to article

Print this article

Shahadat, Shakib give Bangladesh bright start

Paceman Shahadat Hossain and left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan took four wickets each as Bangladesh left India struggling on 213-8 before bad light brought an early end to the opening day of the first test on Sunday.

Dense fog delayed the start by 90 minutes.India were comfortably placed at 63-0 at lunch after Bangladesh had opted to bowl first.

The morning session did not give any hint of the impending disaster as India lost six of their top batsmen in the post-lunch period.

Sehwag falls after brisk half century

Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir gave India a strong start by raising 79 runs for the opening wicket in just 15 overs.

Later, Tamim Iqbal took a simple catch at short extra cover to end Sehwag's brisk innings of 52 off 51 balls that included nine boundaries.

Gambhir followed Sehwag in the next over on 23, edging a catch to wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim in a short-pitched, rising delivery off Shahadat.

India's famed batting line-up fails to deliver

This triggered a batting collapse as India lost wickets at regular intervals.

Shakib had VVS Laxman stumped by Mushfiqur Rahim for seven. Later, Shahadat also bowled Rahul Dravid for four.

Yuvraj Singh lofted a simple catch at mid-on to Rubel Hossain off Shakib to depart for 12 runs, while Shahadat returned for his third spell to present Dinesh Karthik with a third-ball duck.

Shakib got his fourth wicket when he picked Zaheer Khan for 11.

Tendulkar to the rescue

Sachin Tendulkar stood firm as wickets fell at the other end to remain unbeaten on 76, giving India some hope of recovery.

Tendulkar, dropped by Imrul Kayes at slip off debutant pacer Shafiul Islam on 16, reached the mark of 13,000 test runs with a mid-wicket boundary off spinner Mahmudullah.

Tendulkar, who gladly accepted an offer of bad light from the umpires 38 minutes before the scheduled close, will resume batting on the second day with Ishant Sharma (one).