DHAKA, MAY 30: Indian cricketers went through yet another rough day. Their inexperienced bowlers were made to face the realisation, that on the flat batting track of the Bangabandhu stadium, the Bangladeshi batsmen were good enough to play attacking cricket and pierce the gaps in the field with ease, much to the embarrassment of the team.And as if the score of 98 for 2 in 25.2 overs was not worrisome in itself, the skies shed their silence of the past two days. Heavy downpour, thunder and lightning forced the players off the ground and the match had to be abandoned for the day.This was the game from which India was sure of taking two points, but that was not to be. Completing the misery for India was the injury sustained by Saba Karim. He was hit on the eye by an Anil Kumble delivery which struck batsman Habibul Bashar on the pad and deflected onto the stumper's eyes. Karim was unable to carry on further, the injury being serious enough to force him retire to the dressing room.The major disappointement for the Indians must have been the line and length of its two opening bowlers - Ajit Agarkar and T Kumaran. Though Kumaran did manage two early breakthroughs, his half-volley length give Habibul Bashar and Aminul Islam enough time to drive him easily. Agarkar tried to take the short-pitched route, but the pace on this placid wicket was too slow to intimidate the batsmen.Even the spin of Anil Kumble was no detterent to the two, who used their feet well to play some attacking strokes. In short it was a bowling display which will need a lot of tightening if India entertain any hopes of containing the likes of the De Silvas and Jayasuriyas.It may have been rustiness or plain and simple lack of skill on the part of the bowlers. To correct these flaws India would have wanted a full day at the ground, but torrential downpour cut short their exercise in the middle. Now they will hope that the rest day tomorrow, which will be utilised for the match to be resumed from today's score, turns out bright and the weather does not once again act as a spoil sport.India should consider itself lucky that the organisers, desperate that the tournament should not fall prey to the weather gods, have decided to bend the rules and turn tomorrow's rest day into a playing one. The same facility will not be availabe to any team after tomorrow as there are matches scheduled for three continuious days from June 1. In case of a washout then, if a team choses to protest than the organisers will have a tough time in justifying today's decision. SCOREBOARDBANGLADESH J Omar b Kumaran 1 (6b)S Hossain c Joshi b Kumaran 11 (2 fours, 33b) H Bashar not out 45 (73b, 3 fours, 1 six) A Islam not out 32 (44b, 2 fours) Extras (3lb, 1w, 5nb) 9Total (for 2 wkts in 25.2 overs) 98Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Omar), 2-30 (Hossain) Bowling: Ajit Agarkar 5-2-9-0, Thiru Kumaran 6-0-22-2, Saurav Ganguly 3-0-17-0, Anil Kumble 5-0-18-0, Sunil Joshi 5-0-22-0, Hemang Badani 1-0-6-0,Robin Singh .2-0-1-0Indian wicketkeeper Saba Karim, who was struck on the eye while keeping up to Anil Kumble, has received a serious injury to his right eye and the team management is trying to fly in an eye specialist from India to treat him.According to coach Kapil Dev, Karim, who was rushed to the hospital straightaway, has suffered internal bleeding and ``We are keeping our fingers crossed that all goes well.'' He was trying to get in touch with either the Board presidet or the secretary to seek their help so that best possible medical attention could be provided to Karim. Needless to say, Karim is out of the tournament and the team management has not decided yet whether to ask for a replacement for him or not.
