Brakes on India: Mortaza with ball and bat

That was Bangladesh today, spunky, aggressive, down on their knees, but just not willing to roll over.

And, that was what India were not — not at 122 for seven, or at 149 for eight, finally trudging back to the dressing room, eyes down, shoulders too, after letting Bangladesh scramble to 238, and nearly salvage a draw, with just one day to go.

Of course, India are ahead by 193 runs, have eight wickets in hand, and can still hope to bundle out the home team in the last two sessions. But only if the dark clouds lighten up, and surely only if they can manage to rouse Anil Kumble from the sick bed, with a slight fever blowing up into a flu-like condition overnight, forcing him out of today’s game.

But first, that 91-ball 79, and Mortaza. Not very long ago, they say he used to race with his friends along the river near his village in Norail, southwest of Chittagong, his younger brother on his back. Today, he had the whole of Bangladesh hanging on to those broad shoulders for over two, tense hours.

And by the time he reached the other side, grinning broadly, pointing his bat towards coach Dav Whatmore in the dressing room, Bangladesh had emerged, dripping with relief, from the depths.

With three thundering sixes, seven cheeky fours, and lots of guts, the 23-year-old swung into India, fists flailing, exposing an average bowling attack that had, till then, been made to look quite menacing by some senseless top-order batting — all six of them gone by 116 to strokes that were just not on, like skipper Habibul Bashar’s atrocious slash off just the second ball he had faced.

Then, walking back for tea, Bangladesh still 28 runs away at 160 for eight, Mortaza, batting on 33, got this simple message from Whatmore: “Complete your fifty, save the team”. And that’s what he did, cutting RP Singh twice to the boundary, planting his feet down to Powar for a huge six over long-on.

At 185 for eight, three runs away, the Indian effort boiled down to this bizarre sequence: Powar, at mid-on, watched Mortaza’s hasty pull speed to his left, thought he had judged it right, and plopped to his left at the last minute, only to land with a thud on his belly, the catch dropped. Luckily for him, the volatile Zaheer Khan simply shrugged his shoulders and walked back to his bowling mark.

Well, India did take three smart catches though — one just off his face at first slip by Tendulkar to dismiss Bashar, another by Tendulkar swinging low to his left to pack off the promising left-handed opener Shahriar Nafees, and the best, by Dinesh Karrthick at point, leaping to his left to pouch an uppish steer from dangerman and future Bangladesh captain, Mohammad Ashraful.

But later in the evening, as India came out to bat, Bangladesh’s Rajin Saleh showed how far behind they still were. Stunning rival skipper Rahul Dravid, Saleh literally took off, stretched his right hand out in mid-air and plucked out a firm flick that was rushing to the fence.

Finally, at 44 for two, opener Wasim Jaffer landing yet another duck, this time after a miscued pull in just the third ball, India were left holding the tattered remains of what had begun as a cheerful day in office after declaring at 387 for eight.

Why? Zaheer, after that great comeback in South Africa, was as flat as the pitch, VRV Singh took his own time to find his line, bowling to the 6-3 field but rarely for it. And Powar, despite that teasing loop, will soon need to pull out those variations in turn, and line, that Harbhajan Singh has build an entire career on.

But RP Singh, back from England after two games for Leicestershire, and the wickets of Justin Langer and Marcus Trescothick, made the most of his third Test after a 14-month break by simply sticking to the basics, pushing hard and taking home those three gift-wrapped wickets happily.

Not surprisingly, it finally took a vicious, low googly from Tendulkar to end the record ninth wicket partnership of 77 precious runs between Mortaza and Hossain, who hung on like a leech for 55 balls and 79 minutes, chipping in with 31 runs. In fact, that ball, which bowled Hossain, also raised one question: why on earth was Tendulkar brought only after 61 overs, when Mortaza had already reached 62?

Anyway, Mortaza, later, gave a hint of what could have been, by admitting, “Sachin is such a big turner of the ball. And leg-spin is always difficult to hit. That was when I decided to take it slowly and not rush.”

And India? They let RP Singh speak for them. “We are a bit disappointed that we let them (Bangladesh) go after reducing them to 149 for eight.” A bit disappointed?

Scoreboard

India 1st Innings: 387-8 dec

(Overnight: 384 for six)

Mahendra Dhoni c Omar b Mortaza 36; Romesh Powar b Rafique 7; Anil Kumble retd hurt 1; Zaheer Khan c Mashud b Hossain 0; V.R.V. Singh not out 1.

Extras (2b, 8lb, 2w, 12nb) 24.

Total: (for 8 wickets ) 387.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-124, 3-132, 4-321, 5-366, 6-381, 7-384, 8-387.

Bowling: Mashrafe Bin Mortaza 24.5-5-97-4 (5nb, 1w), Shahadat Hossain 18-1-76-3 (2nb, 1w), Mohammad Rafique 24-3-99-1, Enamul Haque 15-0-59-0 (4nb), Shakib Al Hasan 13-2-29-0, Mohammad Ashraful 1-0-5-0 and Rajin Saleh 3-1-12-0.

Bangladesh 1st Innings:

Javed Omar lbw R.P. Singh 7; Shahriar Nafees c Tendulkar b Khan 32; Habibul Bashar c Tendulkar b R.P. Singh 0; Rajin Saleh c Ganguly b Powar 41; Mohammad Ashraful c Karthick b R.P. Singh 5; Shakib Al Hasan b VRV Singh 27; Khaled Mashud lbw V.R.V. Singh 2; Mashrafe Bin Mortaza b V.R.V Singh 79; Mohammad Rafique st. Dhoni b Powar 9; Shahadat Hossain b Tendulkar 31; Enamul Haque not out 0.

Extras (lb1, 3w, nb1) 5

Total: (all out in 68.2 overs) 238

Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-20, 3-47, 4-58, 5-114, 6-116, 7-122, 8-149, 9-226, 10-238.

Bowling: Zaheer Khan 15-1-63-1, R.P. Singh 17-2-45-3 (3w), V.R.V.Singh 15.2-5-48-3, Romesh Powar 17-1-66-2 (1nb), Sachin Tendulkar 4-0-15-1.

India 2nd Innings:

Wasim Jaffer c Bashar b Hossain 0; Dinesh Kaarthick not out 15; Rahul Dravid c Saleh b Hossain 2; Sachin Tendulkar not out 24.

Extras (1lb, 1w, 1nb) 3

Total: (44 for two in 14 overs).

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-6.

Bowling: Hossain 6-3-18-2 (1w), Mortaza 4-1-12-0, Rafique 3-0-7-0 Enamul Haque 1-0-6-0 (1nb).