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May 19, 2007 (Link to Scorecard)

Rain played spoilsport on the second day of the first test at Chittagong. More than two sessions were lost because of rain and a wet outfield. However, enough play was possible for the Indian big guns to register their respective centuries. In the 20 overs that were bowled, India collected 89 runs at the loss of three wickets. Bangladesh got rid of both the centurions - Ganguly and Tendulkar.

The match could resume only at 4:30 PM local time because of overnight rain and the morning drizzle that got the ground drenched. When play did resume, Sourav Ganguly helped himself with a couple of boundaries to get into his nineties. Bangladesh took the second new ball in the 82nd over and Shahadat Hossain almost bounced out the former Indian Captain. Ganguly took a single towards the onside to bring up his 13th Test Match hundred. The former Indian Skipper's century was a sweet one for him as he had got his last one two years back against Zimbabwe. Ganguly got out soon after reaching his hundred, playing a pull shot from outside the offstump to slice it up in the air. Ganguly made exactly 100 which came in 165 balls with 13 fours and 2 sixes. His partnership with Tendulkar was worth 189 runs.

Immediately after Ganguly's dismissal, Tendulkar came up with consecutive boundaries off Mortaza to get into the 90s. He took a while to move from 99 onto 100 which was his 36th test hundred. Tendulkar fell in the same fashion like Dinesh Karthik and Ganguly, making the elementary mistake of going for a pull from way outside the offstump. Tendulkar became the top scorer of the innings with his 101 that had taken 169 balls with the help of 9 fours. His innings had an element of risk whenever he played the flicks off his backfoot infront of the stumps. The ball kept low on many occasions, but the pace in the wicket has been so slow that Tendulkar was confident in playing that quite often. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who arrived at the fall of Ganguly's wicket showed his intentions straightaway, batting very freely and smashing the ball on the up.

Test Debutant Ramesh Powar missed out as his was the third wicket to go down in the day's play. Powar came down the track to send Rafique straight down the ground only to miss the line of the delivery and get bowled. Powar got 7 runs in his first innings which included a streaky boundary through slips. India ended the day at 384 for 6 after 97 overs. Dhoni is onto 36 from 35 with 6 fours while Kumble has been defensive in his 1 not out. Dhoni had a life when he was dropped by Rajin Saleh at deep mid wicket, but the fielder had done superbly well in stopping a flat and powerful pull shot that was heading towards a six off Shahadat. The next delivery saw the wicket of Tendulkar going down to the same bowler. Mashrafe Mortaza has got 3 for 95 in 24 overs while his partner Shahadat Hossain has been impressive with his whole hearted approach, although he has got figures of 2 for 75 in 17 overs.

India has got three more days to force a result. They might be looking to blast some quick runs and look to bat just 30 minutes or so tomorrow morning. With Dhoni in the middle, thirty minutes should be a good amount of time. It will now be upto the Indian bowlers if they can take 20 Bangladeshi wickets on this flat batting track or not. It will all depend on how the Bangladeshi batsmen handle the pressure of chasing a tall first innings total or the three full days waiting. The visitors would also be hoping that the weather holds good for the rest of the match.
 

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