From a position of relative strength to utter disarray in the space of
half an hour – that was Bangladesh’s story on the final day of the series
in Mirpur
The Bulletin by Dileep Premachandran27-Jan-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outMohammad Ashraful resisted the Indian attack initially, but his dismissal opened the flood-gates•Associated Press
From a position of relative strength to utter disarray in the space of
half an hour – that was Bangladesh’s story on the final day of the series
in Mirpur. From 290 for 3, they lost six wickets for 14, and only a couple
of hefty blows from Mushfiqur Rahim ensured that the innings defeat was
avoided. But Zaheer Khan, who had spent much of the morning wearing a
back-brace before returning to scalp three in an over, needed just three
balls after lunch to make a mess of Rubel Hossain’s stumps, and when
Shakib Al Hasan’s second ball went for byes, the match was over.Pragyan Ojha had taken the wickets of Mohammad Ashraful and Shakib Al
Hasan, before ceding the limelight to Zaheer, easily the pick of the
bowlers in the series. But there was no hint of the drama to come as
Bangladesh made serene progress in the opening hour. Ashraful drove Zaheer
through cover, but was largely an amused onlooker as Shahadat Hossain, the
nightwatchman, took to the attack with some gusto.
Smart stats
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India’s 2-0 win in Bangladesh is their fifth series win in a row. They last lost a series in Sri Lanka in July 2008. Since then they’ve beaten Australia, England and Sri Lanka at home, and New Zealand and Bangladesh away.
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The win is India’s sixth in seven Tests against Bangladesh. Three of those wins were by an innings.
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Zaheer Khan’s 7 for 87 is only the ninth instance of Indian fast bowlers taking seven or more wickets in an innings. Kapil Dev has done it five times, while Lala Amar Singh, Javagal Srinath and Irfan Pathan have done it once each.
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It’s Zaheer’s first ten-wicket haul in a Test – his previous best had been 9 for 134 against England at Trent Bridge in 2007.It’s also his fourth Man-of-the-Match award, two of which have come against Bangladesh.
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Tamim Iqbal’s 151 is the second-highest score by a Bangladesh batsman in Tests. He fell only seven short of Mohammad Ashraful’s unbeaten 158 against India in 2004. Bangladesh’s three highest individual scores have all come against India.
A pull for four off Ishant Sharma bolstered his confidence and though a
subsequent top-edged heave over slips betrayed his tail-end roots, there
was nothing fortuitous about a lovely straight six off Ojha or a copy-book
cover-drive off Zaheer. With Gautam Gambhir then conceding four
overthrows, and Ojha clubbed for another four through midwicket, there
would have been Indian supporters whose minds strayed to the prospect of a
tricky fourth-innings chase.The sense of unease was compounded when Amit Mishra dropped Shahadat at
deep midwicket after he’d given Harbhajan Singh the big heave-ho. There
were 51 runs scored before drinks and it was only when Shahadat tried to
wallop Harbhajan over long-on again that the wheels came off. This time,
Amit Mishra held on to the catch, and the 68-run partnership was over.Ashraful, who had shown uncharacteristic patience all the while, followed
in Shahadat’s wake, undone by a beautiful Ojha delivery from round the
wicket. Shakib played the most bizarre of innings, striking the first ball
he faced for a straight six, and then sweeping one straight to Gambhir at
square leg. Resistance breached, MS Dhoni turned to his best bowler.Brace or no brace, Zaheer was a man on fire. Raqibul Hasan shouldered arms
to one that came in with the angle from round the wicket, while
Mahmudullah was defeated by late movement and a magnificent catch from
Murali Vijay, who took the catch an inch from the ground while diving to
his left at second slip. Shafiul Islam’s stumps were splayed next ball,
and it took some defiance from Mushfiqur to make India bat again. In the
event, they didn’t even need to play a shot in anger.
