On a flat, slow track where the ball occasionally kept low, India won the toss and decided to bat first (which was a no brainer, really). Taking the hot, humid conditions and the pitch into consideration, India went with five bowlers and a long tail that even Hanuman would have been proud of.
The Indian batsman had to deliver and in spite of a golden duck from Jaffar of the first ball of the innings, the batsmen did deliver. Dravid and Karthik scored half centuries, but threw away their wickets. With three wickets back in the Pavilion and only Dhoni to follow, both Sachin and Saurav batted cautiously at the start, but eventually opened up to remain unbeaten on 80 and 82 respectively.
The job is only half done though – India need to put a 500+ on this flat track playing first and both players in the middle will have to score well above 100 to put India in command.
Here are some links to reports on the day’s play -
- Vijay Lokapally writes India progress well as Bangladesh fails to capitalise on thrilling start (The Hindu)
- Sidharth Monga writes India play to their plan (CricInfo)
- Saurav, Sachin reign after early blows, writes Ajay S Shankar (Indian Express)
- Atul Sondhi says Jaffar’s flop show is getting longer. (Hindustan Times)
- Stalwarts keep flay flying, writes Sumit Mukherjee, while Karthik in his interview says that This match has to be won by bowlers (Times of India)
- Seniors shine – not on screen, writes Nilesh Bhattacharya (The Telegraph)
- India make hay after early setback, writes Harish Kotian (Rediff)
-Mahesh-
