Sudden competition before tame draw

Summing it up, skipper Rahul Dravid said, 8220;Kya kar sakte the? Definitely, after the first day, at 295 for three, we were in a very good position to control the Test match. We won a good toss, I must admit, and we batted well on the first day at a good run-rate. We were definitely in the drivers8217; seat. After that, it was a stop-start game. We really didn8217;t have enough overs to force a result8230; Baarish aa gaya to aa gaya.8221;

And about that final twist, declaring at 100 for six 8212; the last four wickets fell today in a frantic chase for runs after the watery outfield drowned play till 2 pm 8212; Dravid said, 8220;We knew we had to give them a bit of a sniff. We were hoping that they play positively and try and look for the target. And we could take a few wickets 8212; anything can happen, really. But after the first hour, they played quite sensibly.8221;

India rustled up 56 runs in the 10 overs they batted today, picking from 44 for two overnight, even if Tendulkar and Ganguly would surely admit that those two ugly slogs to leg didn8217;t do much good to the 8216;world class8217; tags they carry.

And Bangladesh? Given a target of 250 in 43 overs under fading light, they raced to 49 for one in just nine overs, opener Javed Omar slashing away like a man possessed. But then, with the pressure building up, they quietly pulled down the shutters, finally agreeing to call it off still 146 runs away and just the 15 mandatory overs left.

So what do the two teams take back to their hotel rooms after five frustrating days? Some questions for India, definitely.

Ramesh Powar dropped a hard return catch today, and RP Singh let go another in the deep, both off Bangla skipper Habibul Bashar. And then, those two wickets which fell to balls that actually deserved them 8212; Man of the Match Mashrafe Mortaza8217;s first-ball scorcher that blew away Wasim Jaffer8217;s bails, and Tendulkar8217;s googly last evening that ended Bangladesh8217;s 77-run ninth wicket party.

A big 8216;if only8217;, too. 8220;Losing Anil Kumble was a big blow for us in these conditions. He should hopefully be ok. It8217;s just a fever, a lot of Bangladeshi boys had it at the start. Unfortunately, for us, Anil got it during the game,8221; said Dravid.

In fact, the Indians did try to sneak in their strike spinner today. 8220;The plan, really, was to get him to the ground and take a bit of a gamble and see whether he could bowl. But the umpires were very clear, there was no chance after he did not figure on the field for even a minute since the first day,8221; said Dravid.

250 runs in 43 overs? 8220;Tough call,8221; admitted Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore, one eye on the way his top-order batting collapsed in the first innings to 116 for six, without Kumble.

And Dravid, not surprisingly, suggested that India could have wrapped it up had it not rained. Whatmore, surprisingly, agreed: 8220;It would have been very tough for Bangladesh if we hadn8217;t lost any play. We had a deficit of 149 in the first innings. It would have been a lot harder for us, most definitely.8221;

Scoreboard

India 1st Innings: 387-8 decl.

Bangladesh 1st Innings: 238 all out

India 2nd Innings Overnight: 44 for two: D Kaarthick c Nafees b Mortaza 22, S Tendulkar b Rafique 31, S Ganguly c Nafees b Rafique 13, MS Dhoni not out 17, R Powar st. Mashud b Rafique 6, Z Khan not out 2

Extras lb1, w2, nb4: 7; Total for 6 wkts decl, 24 overs: 100

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-6, 3-60, 4-64, 5-78, 6-93

Bowling: S Hossain 7-3-30-2, M Mortaza 8-1-36-1, M Rafique 8-0-27-3, E Haque 1-0-6-0

Bangladesh 2nd Innings: J Omar not out 52, S Nafees c Dhoni b RP Singh 1, H Bashar c RP Singh b Powar 37, R Saleh not out 7

Extras lb6, nb1: 7; Total for 2 wkts, 28 overs: 104

Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-82

Bowling: Z Khan 7-0-24-0, RP Singh 6-0-29-1, VRV Singh 5-1-22-0, R Powar 7-2-16-1, S Tendulkar 3-0-7-0

Bangla Bytes

8226; After losing 8 Tests in succession two to England, four to Sri Lanka and two to Australia, Bangladesh managed to draw the first Test against India.

8226; The match was the first drawn Test between Bangladesh and India and the fifth involving Bangladesh. They have now played three drawn Tests with Zimbabwe and one each with West Indies and India.

8226; Bangladesh have won just one and lost 39 out of the 45 Tests they have played.

8226; Sachin Tendulkar, who has topscored in the Test with 132 runs 101 and 31, has taken his run aggregate to 10,800 at an average of 54.82 in 136 Tests.

-PTI