da brwin： From a position of relative strength to utter disarray in the space ofhalf an hour – that was Bangladesh’s story on the final day of the seriesin 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 ofhalf an hour – that was Bangladesh’s story on the final day of the seriesin Mirpur. From 290 for 3, they lost six wickets for 14, and only a coupleof hefty blows from Mushfiqur Rahim ensured that the innings defeat wasavoided. But Zaheer Khan, who had spent much of the morning wearing aback-brace before returning to scalp three in an over, needed just threeballs after lunch to make a mess of Rubel Hossain’s stumps, and whenShakib Al Hasan’s second ball went for byes, the match was over.Pragyan Ojha had taken the wickets of Mohammad Ashraful and Shakib AlHasan, before ceding the limelight to Zaheer, easily the pick of thebowlers in the series. But there was no hint of the drama to come asBangladesh made serene progress in the opening hour. Ashraful drove Zaheerthrough cover, but was largely an amused onlooker as Shahadat Hossain, thenightwatchman, took to the attack with some gusto.Smart stats
da lvbet： 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.
The win is India’s sixth in seven Tests against Bangladesh. Three of those wins were by an innings.
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.
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.
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 asubsequent top-edged heave over slips betrayed his tail-end roots, therewas nothing fortuitous about a lovely straight six off Ojha or a copy-bookcover-drive off Zaheer. With Gautam Gambhir then conceding fouroverthrows, and Ojha clubbed for another four through midwicket, therewould have been Indian supporters whose minds strayed to the prospect of atricky fourth-innings chase.The sense of unease was compounded when Amit Mishra dropped Shahadat atdeep midwicket after he’d given Harbhajan Singh the big heave-ho. Therewere 51 runs scored before drinks and it was only when Shahadat tried towallop 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, followedin Shahadat’s wake, undone by a beautiful Ojha delivery from round thewicket. Shakib played the most bizarre of innings, striking the first ballhe faced for a straight six, and then sweeping one straight to Gambhir atsquare leg. Resistance breached, MS Dhoni turned to his best bowler.Brace or no brace, Zaheer was a man on fire. Raqibul Hasan shouldered armsto one that came in with the angle from round the wicket, whileMahmudullah was defeated by late movement and a magnificent catch fromMurali Vijay, who took the catch an inch from the ground while diving tohis 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 theevent, they didn’t even need to play a shot in anger.