India hit back on truncated day

India hit back on truncated day

Bangladesh v India, 1st Test, Chittagong, 2nd day

The Bulletin by Sidharth Monga
January 18, 2010

Bangladesh's collapse, like India's, started in the 15th over. India lost three wickets for six runs, Bangladesh lost three for five. India had 79 runs on the board before their collapse, Bangladesh 59. India continued collapsing, bad light granted Bangladesh stay orders. In fact the murky conditions allowed only 24.5 overs of play in the whole day, which means 90.1 overs have been lost on the first two days.

After Sachin Tendulkar reached his 44th Test century, scoring 29 of India's 30 runs on the second day, Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes provided Bangladesh a solid and quick start, reaching 38 in eight overs. The coming together of Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma reduced scoring opportunities, the batsmen started playing and missing, surviving lbw shouts, and two runs in three overs resulted in Kayes slashing outside off, a shot that told the bowlers they were not far off a wicket.

One more close lbw shout against Kayes later, Zaheer got one full and straight enough, and caught him on the crease. Shahriar Nafees, coming back from the ICL, top-edged a pull second ball, and then found Ishant to be too good for him. The ball landed on middle, back of a length, and then nipped away. Nafees had to play at it, and the movement squared him up, taking a healthy edge. In the next over, Zaheer, by now frustrated at missing the edge repeatedly, got one to nip in, squeeze under Tamim's bat, and take the off stump.

In 11 balls, Bangladesh had gone from hoping to dominate India to hoping for a Tendulkar-like stay to carry their fledgling innings. Tendulkar it was who added some respectability to India's total, scoring 105 runs out of the 164 scored since he came to the crease. Resuming on 76 on the second morning, he manoeuvred the strike well and scored his 89th international century. Shakib Al Hasan and Shahadat Hossain reached five-fors - for Shakib, a sixth five-wicket haul in 15 Tests.

Bangladesh came in with the mindset of attacking Nos 10 and 11, and hoping that Tendulkar wouldn't cause irreversible damage in the meantime. In the first four overs, Tendulkar let Ishant play just six balls, only one of which troubled him. And during those four overs, with the field coming up for the last two balls, Tendulkar hit 2, 4, 1, 4, and 6 to get into the 90s. Shahadat then moved round the stumps and the change of angle proved to be too much for Ishant to handle, who edged a delivery going across.

Sreesanth got a single first ball, and Tendulkar reached his century off the last two balls of that Shahadat over - Shakib was seen applauding Tendulkar's effort. At the other end, Sreesanth didn't look overly comfortable against Shakib who got alarming turn, but somehow saw off one over. Shahadat did his bit by bowling a wide yorker and keeping Tendulkar at his end. In the next over, Shakib got a leading edge that ended India's innings.

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Siddons slams Bangladesh batting response

Siddons slams Bangladesh batting response

Bangladesh v India, 1st Test, Chittagong, 2nd day

Sriram Veera in Chittagong
January 18, 2010

India may have been bowled out for 243 in the morning session but Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons fears the hosts might have spoiled the second day by losing three wickets. "I am really happy with the bowling performance," Siddons said. "However, three wickets, while batting at the end of the day was a pretty ordinary effort."

The Bangladesh openers Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes started off well, adding 53 runs, the highest opening stand for Bangladesh against India. However, just when the advantage was waiting to be seized, they started to make the errors. It was Kayes who faltered first. It wasn't a great delivery from Zaheer Khan but he fell trying to whip a full delivery across the line. Shahriar Nafees, on his comeback game post-ICL, pushed out at a delivery with an open bat face and edged to second slip. Both efforts didn't impress Siddons.

"We had two bad shots today," Siddons said. "You have to hit the bad ball, but I guess they tried to hit few good ones today as well." He also said there was no special instruction to be extra positive; he just put it down to the need to adjust better to Test cricket after playing an ODI series. "The transition from ODIs to Test can get a little tougher for some. There were no extra instructions."

Siddons, however, pointed out that Bangladesh still possess enough quality batsmen who can make a difference and help them gain a lead. "I am hoping they will apply themselves. I am hoping for one of the remaining batsmen to hit a hundred. We still have batsmen who can hit Test hundreds."

He also had words of praise for his bowlers who did not allow India to drag on their batting effort today. "We took the last two wickets today," Siddons said. "Tendulkar was batting well and if the tail had hung around with him, Tendulkar could have taken them to a bigger total. So I am happy."

It was a truncated day's play where 249 minutes of play was lost. There wasn't much cricket on offer and no one from India came to address the press. (www.cricinfo.com)

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Tendulkar and Jadeja give India 2-1 lead

Tendulkar and Jadeja give India 2-1 lead

India v Sri Lanka, 3rd ODI, Cuttack

The Bulletin by Dileep Premachandran
December 21, 2009

India 242 for 3 (Tendulkar 96*) beat Sri Lanka 239 (Tharanga 73, Jadeja 4-32) by seven wickets

After Virender Sehwag had bludgeoned 44 from just 28 balls, an unhurried and unbeaten 96 from Sachin Tendulkar took India to a facile victory that gave them a 2-1 lead in this five-match series. Sri Lanka had dominated the early stages of the match, galloping to 165 for 1 from 22.2 overs but they then subsided in bizarre fashion, undone by a combination of Ravindra Jadeja's spin, poor shot selection and two wickets in two balls from Ishant Sharma, who had gone for 46 in his first three overs. They lost the remaining nine wickets for 74 runs and slumped to 239 all out, which India eased past with 44 balls to spare.

The game changed once Sehwag, captaining in placed of the banned MS Dhoni, brought the slow bowlers on, and it was he himself who dealt the vital blow, having Kumar Sangakkara stumped for 46 despite Dinesh Karthik initially fumbling the take. India built on that success soon after, with Upul Tharanga losing his off bail in Jadeja's opening over after an attractive 73. Sri Lanka never recovered from those twin strikes.Sachin Tendulkar's well-paced knock guided India to an easy victory

Mahela Jayawardene's poor series continued when he slugged a long hop from Harbhajan Singh to short midwicket, where Suresh Raina timed his leap perfectly to take the catch. Thilina Kandamby and Chamara Kapugedera stopped the rot for a few overs, but then Jadeja and Ishant combined to end all hopes of a large total.

First, Kapugedera played on off Jadeja, and then Kandamby too found the inner edge off Ishant. When Suraj Randiv got a thin edge to one that moved away, it was 210 for 7. Jadeja then trapped Nuwan Kulasekara plumb in front as Sri Lanka unravelled completely. When Jadeja slid one through the defence of Ajantha Mendis, he had 4 for 32 from his 10 overs.

It had been so different at the start of play, with Zaheer Khan bowling three wides in an opening over where Dilshan added two fours for good measure. Ishant, playing in place of Praveen Kumar, was greeted with a crisp shot to long-on and two meaty flails through cover. With Tharanga then whacking one down the ground for six, and Dilshan slapping another ball through cover, the 50 took just 3.4 overs, the fastest-ever against India.

Ashish Nehra came on to stem the tide, and Dilshan could have gone on 36 had Karthik not made a mess of a flick on to the stumps that would have run him out. It wasn't a costly miss, however, with a top-edged heave at Nehra ending up in Karthik's hands soon after. By then, though, the run-rate was 10 and, with Tharanga steering and cutting the ball neatly, the runs continued to mount.

Sangakkara drove Ishant straight down the ground to bring up the hundred, and when Tharanga edged Harbhajan down to third man, he had his half-century from 51 balls. Sangakkara then lofted Sehwag for a straight six, and things were looking exceedingly grim for India until the spinners and Ishant had their say.

Chanaka Welegedara started the Indian innings with a maiden, and Sehwag then watched Tendulkar clip and cover-drive Kulasekara for fours. When his turn came, he took Kulasekara for three fours in an over, a feat he repeated when Lasith Malinga came on without his radar in place. Welegadara was also then smashed for three fours before Dilshan held, at the third time of asking, an attempt to belt the ball over point.

After Sehwag's exit, the run-flow eased temporarily. Tendulkar was fortunate when an inside edge off Kulasekara missed leg stump on its way for four, but with some lovely strokes being played through the covers and midwicket, the innings was soon back on track.

Tendulkar greeted Mendis with a paddle and a cover-drive for four, and when he then upper-cut Kulasekara for four more, Sangakkara brought on Randiv in a bid to emulate what the Indian spinners had done earlier in the day. He duly got Gambhir, a return catch off the leading edge, but with Tendulkar well set and Yuvraj Singh finding his off-side rhythm, it looked likely to be no more than a blip.

It took Tendulkar 57 balls to reach yet another half-century, and when he then dabbed Mendis through vacant slip, the target was well below 100. Yuvraj went, playing a lazy drive at Welegedera, but with Karthik taking Mendis for two fours in an over and then chipping a Malinga yorker over mid-on, India hurtled towards the target.

Tendulkar carried on in unhurried fashion, with deft dabs and clips off the pads, and glances so fine they just evaded the keeper. But with Karthik clouting Randiv over long-on for a six, the century that the crowd was looking for never arrived. Not that it mattered. With Sri Lanka succumbing to the Christmas spirit of giving, what might have been a challenging chase for India became instead as pleasant as a moment under the mistletoe. (www.cricinfo.com)

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