Tigers earn draw
Bishwajit Roy From Chittagong
The wet outfield following heavy overnight downpour allowed only half of the final day's play as the rain-hit first Test of the two-match series between Bangladesh and India ended in an expected draw at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium yesterday.Gritty opener Javed Omar batted Bangladesh to a draw with an unbeaten half-century after India skipper Rahul Dravid declared with a lead of 249 runs to liven up the last two hours in front of a cheering crowd. Bangladesh managed their fifth overall draw, first against India in four matches, in their 45th attempt as there was only one result in the offing after rain spoiled more than half the proceedings. India set a tough target for the home side to score 250 runs in 43 overs after the match started at 2pm but the Bangladesh top-order made amends after a dismal first innings show as they forced their opponents to accept the result with fifteen overs remaining. Left-arm paceman Rudra Pratap Singh gave the visitors an early breakthrough by removing Shahriar Nafees (1) in the fourth over with the scoreboard reading 12, but under pressure Bangladesh skipper Habibul Bashar joined Javed to set aside any dramatic outcome. The two veterans added 70 runs for the second wicket as Bangladesh scored 104 for 2 in 28 overs. Javed smashed his seventh half-century in his 82-ball 52 that contained eight boundaries and a six, a first for him in 36 appearances, struck off off-spinner Ramesh Powar while Bashar returned to some semblance of form by scoring 37 after a second-ball duck in the first innings. "It would have been a better game if we did not lose the first session. In 43 overs that (the target of 250) was a tough call. But most of the decisions of our batsmen in this innings were a lot better," said outgoing Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore in his post-match reaction. Earlier resuming on 44-2, India batted 10 overs on the day and lost four more wickets before declaring the second innings on 100. Man-of-the-match Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, who hit a career-best 79 to save his side from following on, took the first wicket of Dinesh Karthik (22) to finish the match with a haul of 5 for 133. Left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique captured the remaining wickets including the two big scalps of Sachin Tendulkar (31) and Sourav Ganguly (13) who went for the big hits. The second and final Test will start from May 25 at the Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
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