Bangladesh Fight Back

Mashrafe Mortaza led the way with both ball and bat for Bangladesh as his team fought back on the fourth day of the first Test against India at Chittagong, but the visitors remain on top.

Resuming on 384-6 after the third day was washed out, India quickly declared at 387 after two quick wickets fell in the morning session, including the vital wicket of MS Dhoni, taken by none other than Mortaza. In reply Bangladesh looked to be collapsing to an embarrassingly low total when they found themselves at 149-8 and in danger of following on.

But Mortaza had other ideas. Well supported by Shahadat Hossain, who scored 31 in a partnership worth 77, Mortaza scored his first Test half-century and clubbed his way to 79 from just 91 balls, including seven fours and three sixes. In the end Bangladesh reached 238, trailing by 149 runs.

After falling for a first-ball duck in the first innings, Wasim Jaffer could not have done worse second time around. But it wasn’t through lack of trying, as he was this time dismissed by Hossain having lasted just 3 balls. When Hossain also removed Rahul Dravid for just 2 with the team score at 6-2, Bangladesh felt that they were truly back in contention. Dinesh Karthik and first-innings centurion Sachin Tendulkar survived a difficult last period to take the team through to 44-2 at stumps on the fourth day.

An intriguing final day’s play looks likely after the exciting comeback by the Bangladeshis on the fourth day. India remain on top, but a few quick wickets in the morning could change all that.

India 387-8d
Sachin Tendulkar 101, Saurav Ganguly 100
Mashrafe Mortaza 4-97, Shahadat Hossain 3-76

Bangladesh 238 all out
Mashrafe Mortaza 79, Rajin Saleh 41
Rudra Pratap Singh 3-45, Vikram Singh 3-48

India 44-2
Sachin Tendulkar 24 no, Dinesh Karthik 15 no
Shahadat Hossain 2-18

India lead by 193 runs.