Having failed to take advantage of the toss, Bangladesh paid the fullpenalty on the second day, as India’s batsmen built up a formidable totalin favourable conditions

The Bulletin by Dileep Premachandran25-Jan-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outBoth Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid took heavy toll of a tiring attack•Associated PressHaving failed to take advantage of the toss, Bangladesh paid the fullpenalty on the second day, as India’s batsmen built up a formidable totalin favourable conditions. There were centuries for Sachin Tendulkar andRahul Dravid after Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir put together theirseventh three-figure partnership. With plenty of batting to come and thelead already well over 200, Bangladesh were staring at another heavydefeat.It could have been worse if not for a Shahadat Hossan bouncer that didn’tlift appreciably and smashed into the side of Dravid’s face. He retiredhurt straight away, and was taking for a precautionary check-up. By then,the partnership with Tendulkar was worth 222, with both men taking heavytoll of a tiring attack.Tendulkar had taken 89 balls for his half-century, but he needed only afurther 45 deliveries to bring up his 45th hundred. He played his usualarray of sweeps, some of them with immense power, and threaded the oddball through the offside cordon as the runs came in a flurry. Dravid toospeeded up with a hundred in sight, and got there with a magnificentoff-drive off Shakib Al Hasan.After his exit, Tendulkar and Murali Vijay consolidated. Vijay timed theball superbly in front of the wicket, and played a delicate late-cut offShakib in a 30-run cameo that ended when he came down the track and foundthe man at mid-on. By then, Tendulkar had gone in similar fashion, havingalready struck Shakib for six and four down the ground earlier in theover. Harbhajan Singh edged the day’s penultimate delivery from ShafiulIslam behind, but with Yuvraj Singh to come, Bangladesh’s bowling travailswere far from over.They hadn’t helped their cause by dropping Tendulkar twice, while Dravidtoo enjoyed his fair share of fortune. Raqibul Hasan had batted poorly onthe opening day and his catching, or lack of it, cost his team on Monday.Tendulkar had just survived an inside-edge off the impressive RubelHossain when he miscued one in the direction of gully. Raqibul got bothhands to it, and dropped it. He was on 27 at the time, and when he hadmade 50, Raqibul put down a more difficult chance to his left at point.This time, Shahadat was the luckless bowler, and Tendulkar celebrated thereprieves by batting with real fluency in the half hour before tea.Smart stats

The 222-run stand between Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar is the 17th century partnership the two, which is a record for a single pair. Two pairs have 16 hundred partnerships – Hayden-Ponting and Greenidge-Haynes. Among Indian pairs the next highest is 12, between Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly. (Click here for the full list.)

Dravid and Tendulkar have also put together four double-century stands, which ties them in second place with four other pairs. Hayden and Langer lead the way with six.

Tendulkar has become the first batsman to score 90 international hundreds, and is 23 clear of the second-placed Ponting. Brian Lara, with 53, is the only other batsman with more than 50 international centuries.

Gautam Gambhir’s 68 is his 11th score of 50 or more in successive Tests, which equals Viv Richards’ record. Richards achieved this feat over a 13-month period in the mid-1970s, when he scored seven hundreds and six fifties in 19 innings, averaging 94.10 in these 11 Tests. Gambhir has scored eight hundreds and five fifties during this period, averaging 89.89. (Click here for the full list updated before the start of this Test.)

Dravid’s 111 is his 29th Test century, which is the eighth-highest in the all-time list. It’s his third Test century versus Bangladesh, against whom he averages 70 in seven Tests.

Tendulkar has scored a hundred every time he has gone past 50 against Bangladesh. Thus, he has five hundreds and no half-centuries in seven Tests against Bangladesh, at an average of 136.67, which is easily his highest against any team.

Shakib had gone off with a shin problem, and as hard as the bowlerstoiled, with so few runs on the board, there was little pressure on thebatsmen, who picked the gaps and moved the score along steadily. Both mencame down the pitch occasionally to the spinners, and drove beautifullythrough the covers, while Dravid also played some fine strokes throughmidwicket. His good luck had arrived before lunch, and he made the most ofit. He had made just nine when Shafiul claimed a run-out after GautamGambhir smashed one straight back down the pitch. The Bangladeshis wereconvinced that Shafiul’s little finger had brushed the ball, but withreplays inconclusive, the third umpire had to rule in the batsman’sfavour.Then, when he was on 28, an excellent bouncer from Rubel caught himunawares. The fend was superbly caught by Junaid Siddique at slip, buteven as Dravid trudged off, Billy Bowden was signalling a no-ball. Havingresumed on 69 for 0, the Indians had seen Sehwag survive a very good shoutfrom Shahadat early on, and when he then cracked one through the covers toreach 50, the omens were ominous. Gambhir too was in fluent touch,clipping Shafiul through midwicket and using both cute deflections and thestraight bat to pinch fours off Shahadat.Sehwag bludgeoned one straight to bring up three figures, but the verynext delivery reared up at him and took the glove on its way to MushfiqurRahim. Dravid took his time to play himself in, and Gambhir assumed thescoring mantle, with a back-foot punch and a guide through the slips offShafiul taking him to a half-century for the 11th match in succession -equalling the record set by Sir Vivian Richards.Having found his bearings, Dravid started to play some gorgeous strokesthrough cover, off pace and spin alike, and when Gambhir was caught in anungainly tangle by Shafiul’s bouncer, it was very much against the grainof play. But with Tendulkar easing his way into the proceedings with anudge here and a push there, it was still India that held the ace-hand asthe teams went to lunch. After that, with Bangladesh unable to hold on tothe chances that came their way, it was all one-way traffic, 390 runsworth of it.