The Great Game Called Cricket...

The five days of grueling action culminated in India taking the match by 113 runs. At one point, when India were reduced to 150 for six in the first innings it looked difficult. But it was the master himself who bailed them out from the precarious situation and set up a comfortable win in the end.

Sachin Tendulkar’s undefeated 105, his 44th Test ton, was the crucial knock that brought Indian back into the match. It’s only in the fitness of things that Sachin got the man of the match award.

Tendulkar’s effort was beautifully backed by fiery and disciplined pace bowling, which saw India dominate the proceedings for most of the time. Gautam Gambhir’s record fifth Test ton in consecutive matches was the icing on the cake.

Though weather often played spoilsport, the Indians came in hard to push for a convincing win. The victory could have come in much quicker time for the visitors but for a scintillating hundred by Mushfiqur Rahim on the final day. With some brave hits all around the ground, Rahim made sure his maiden Test hundred was also the fastest by a Bangladesh batsman. His 114-ball knock of 101 included 17 boundaries and a huge six.

The Indians came out all guns blazing on the fifth morning. Virender Sehwag crowded the batsmen with fielders and the two pacers Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma were relentless in their attack. For an inexperienced Bangladesh batting line-up it was a tall order to battle it out, and they showed little character and willingness to succeed.

Mohammad Ashraful (27), after flashing and missing twice, eventually nicked one from Ishant straight into the soft hands of Rahul Dravid at the second slip.

Ishant was at his lethal best. He bowled a perfect length, generated good bounce using his height to advantage and beat the batsmen with his consistent line. After removing Ashraful, Ishant wrapped Raqibul Hasan plumb on his pads with an in coming delivery. Ishant’s first spell of 8 overs produced 11 runs for 2 wickets.

When a batsman breathed a sigh of relief after negotiating Ishant’s testing bounce, he was up against Zaheer’s cunning reverse swinging deliveries. The Indian pace spearhead was shrewd and mean, giving nothing away to the batsmen by bowling an immaculate line.

As his teammates succumbed to the pressure of pacers, Tamim Iqbal (52) stood his ground. He took the blows, got beaten quite a few times, survived a couple of risky shots and executed some fine ones en route to his dogged half-century. The left-hander surprised one and all when he reverse-swept Amit Mishra against the turn for four to get to his fifty.

Amit Mishra, who had bowled some lovely deliveries in the first session without luck, was rewarded with the wicket immediately after lunch. The leg-spinner deceived Shakib Al Hasan in flight and the Bangladesh skipper provided a simple catch to silly point.

Mishra put up a much improved show in the second essay as compared to the first innings. Though there was no vicious turn in the pitch, the leggie used his flight and variation to good effect. He mixed his length intelligently, never allowing a batsman to settle into his groove. The leg-spinner finished with seven wickets in the match.

After Shakib’s wicket, Virender Sehwag decided to attack the new batsman with his premiere pace bowler and Zaheer Khan straight away got into an interesting contest with Mohammad Mahmudullah (20).

In an over, the first ball flew over the slip cordon for four. When Mahmudullah backed off before facing the second delivery, Zaheer let his displeasure known to the batsman. Next ball, a bouncer, was hooked away for a boundary. This charged Zaheer up further and Mahmudullah was fired with a series of short-pitched deliveries for the rest of the over. Every delivery was followed up with a mouthful of aggression from the pacer. Zaheer eventually got his man in the next over when Mahmudullah edged a fuller and wider delivery to the keeper.

With seven wickets down and defeat almost inevitable, Mushfiqur Rahim decided to have some fun. He took the attack to Zaheer, smashing him through covers and mid-wicket. He also took on Mishra with controlled sweeps and a charge down the track. Ishant, who was a bit wayward in his second spell, too was treated with disdain, as Mushfiqur hit him for some cracking cover drives. The Bangladesh keeper gave something to cheer for the hosts, as he slammed his first Test century.

After a long delay, the inevitable victory came India’s way when Rahim holed out to Pragyan Ojha at long-off, giving Mishra his fourth wicket of the innings.