Bangladesh’s dramatic collapse on Monday was so sudden that it had ashattering effect not only on the cricket fans in the country but alsoon the genuine lover of the game

Partab Ramchand29-May-2016Bangladesh’s dramatic collapse on Monday was so sudden that it had ashattering effect not only on the cricket fans in the country but alsoon the genuine lover of the game. How can one analyse the performanceof a team that holds its own till the morning of the fourth day andthen goes down so abysmally that the match is lost tamely by the endof the same day? Long after the inaugural Test against India was lostat the Bangabandhu stadium by nine wickets, the home team was stilltrying to come to terms with the defeat. Perhaps this was the expectedresult on the eve of the game but not after Bangladesh had written ascript which had them sharing the honour stakes even as play resumedthis morning.A keen duel for supremacy for the first innings was on the cards whenIndia resumed at 366 for seven but thanks to Sunil Joshi and AjitAgarkar and their eighth wicket partnership of 56 runs off 15.5 overs,India went ahead without losing a wicket. Joshi who had already takenfive wickets in the Bangladesh first innings now inched towards hiscentury which would have bracketed him along with Vinoo Mankad (atLord’s in 1952) and Polly Umrigar (at Port of Spain in 1962) as theonly other Indian players to have notched up the rare double of acentury and five wickets in an innings in a Test match. But the 31-year-old left handed all rounder from Karnataka was not destined tojoin the greats. For, on 92 he holed out to mid off. It was a sad endto a gallant innings. Joshi had come in at a crucial juncture onSunday and along with Ganguly and Agarkar managed to give India aslender lead which proved of enormous psychological advantage in theultimate analysis. Joshi batted four hours, faced 180 balls and hitnine fours.The tail did not offer much resistance and Agarkar was last out for avaluable 34 off 88 balls. He hit five fours. Agarkar’s wicket gaveNaimur Rahman his sixth scalp of the innings and India ended 29 runsin front on the first innings.India were all out just before lunch and with five sessions left inthe game, all kinds of scenarios were being discussed. Certainly therewere so many possibilities but none could have bargained for whatactually happened. A team that had batted so bravely for almost elevenhours and 153.3 overs to score 400 in the first innings caved in offjust 46.3 overs and a little over 200 minutes the second time aroundfor a meagre 91. It was inexplicable. There was nothing outstanding inthe Indian bowling and the wicket, but for the inevitable wear andtear on a fourth day pitch, was still good to bat on. And yet theBangladesh batsmen well and truly psyched themselves out. They were onthe backfoot from the moment Shahriar Hossain ducked into a short ballfrom Srinath and got hit on the left shoulder. In pain, Shahriarretired to receive attention. Mehrab Hossain and Habibul Basharpainfully took the score to 32 in the 13th over when the former playeda loose stroke outside the off stump at Zaheer Khan and was held lowdown by Murali Kartik at backward point.After this, it was verily a procession. One by one the Bangladeshbatsmen fell to injudicious shot selection. Except for Bashar who made30 off 63 balls with four boundary hits and wicketkeeper Khaled Masudwho scored an unbeaten 21 off 68 balls with one boundary, none of theother batsmen reached double digits. The lofty reputation the batsmenearned by their gallant display in the first innings was lost by theirshoddy showing in the second and in the end the cynics, who doubtedBangladesh’s lasting qualities, proved to be right. Making the most ofthis pathetic showing were Srinath, Agarkar and Joshi. The 31-year-oldIndian spearhead who was unimpressive in the first innings would haveregained his confidence by taking three for 19 but, truth be told,these were flattering figures. But then no less flattering were thefigures of Joshi (3 for 27) and Agarkar (2 for 16). The batsmen justhad no clue in tackling the short deliveries, which Srinath andAgarkar peppered them with.India were now left to get only 63 runs for victory and about the onlyinterest left was the margin of the win and when that would comeabout. Sadagopan Ramesh was bowled by Hasibul Hoosein, essaying anextravagant shot but SS Das (22) and Rahul Dravid (41) steered Indiato victory with a day to spare. Dravid, the more aggressive of thetwo, hit five fours and a six while Das had three fours. Incidentally,Das also took five catches in the match. India had to get the runsfrom 15 overs if they wanted to finish the match by the evening andthey accomplished this off the last ball of the 15th over. With thelight murky, the floodlights were turned on midway through the Indianinnings under the playing conditions. It was probably the first timethat India were playing a Test under floodlights. It was also a firstfor Ganguly – a victory in his first Test as captain. He joined theranks of Polly Umrigar, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and SachinTendulkar as the only other Indian captains to have achieved thisfeat. The Indian team also presented Anshuman Gaekwad with the perfectparting gift with the Test match being the last assignment for thecoach during his short, second tenure. Not unexpectedly, Joshi wasdeclared man of the match.