 Tendulkar, Ganguly lead India's domination in Chittagong
18th May 2007 19:58 IST
Agencies
Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly decimated the Bangladesh attack with a clinical display of batsmanship and piloted India to a position of strength on the first day of the opening Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong today.
Coming together after the visitors had lost opener Dinesh Karthik (56) and skipper Rahul Dravid (61) within the space of 12 balls, the two senior cricketers were involved in an unfinished 163-run fourth-wicket stand as India reached 295/3 at stumps.
Both Tendulkar and Ganguly had been excluded from the ODI team that played three matches against the hosts in the earlier part of the tour.
A determined Tendulkar, his innings embellished with seven boundaries, was unconquered on 80, while Ganguly remained unbeaten on 82 when play ended at the Bir Sreshta stadium.
Ganguly, who came up with some audacious strokes, hit ten boundaries and two sixes during his 132-ball knock, as the Indian willowers had a field day on a docile track that offered very little to the bowlers.
Earlier, Dravid and Karthik led the foundation of the Indian innings with a 124-run second wicket partnership that offset the loss of opener Wasim Jaffer off the first ball of the match.
The endless speculation about India's opening combination came to an end with Jaffer walking out into the middle alongside wicketkeeper batsman Karthik, but the ploy did not work.
The match started off sensationally, as pacer Mashrafe Mortaza brought the sizeable crowd on to its feet by dislocating Jaffer's off stump with the first delivery of the match.
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