Day 1 of the second Test against Bangladesh ended as a story of two wonderful hundreds. One had the fragrance of youth; the other had the solidity of practice. And they helped India finish at 334 for 2 on Friday at the M A Aziz stadium in Chittagong.
Rahul Dravid notched up his eighteenth hundred and entered into the record books becoming the only player in cricket history to score a century in each of the ten Test playing nations.
But it was a cheerful performance by young Gautam Gambhir that flavoured the Indian innings. The left-hander lit up the ground with his scorching off-side play and went on to score his maiden Test century, 139 off 196 balls.
Sachin Tendulkar may just add another historic twist to the Test. He completed India's domination over the hosts on Friday and another good day in the field on Saturday may well give him a record-breaking 35th Test century.
At close of play, Dravid was unbeaten on 145 and Tendulkar was batting on 36.
Morning session
India got second time lucky with the toss in this series and captain Sourav Ganguly elected to bat on a glistening flat pitch.
Bangladesh made three changes to the side. Tapash Baisya was out due to a back problem while Rajin Saleh and Mushfiqur Rahman were dropped on form. Seventeen-year-old Nazmul Hossain replaced Baisya to share the new ball with Mashrafe Moratza.
With the track affording little movement, the Indian batsmen got into the act right away. Virender Sehwag welcomed the young Hossain with a couple of hits to the fence. The first one, a juicy half volley that was rightly dispatched to the ropes.
The Delhi opener looked good to compose another swashbuckling innings when he was out flashing a ball to first slip off Mashrafe Mortaza for 10. (14 for 1).
The bowler, who made early inroads into the Indian batting line-up in the first Test at Dhaka, was not short on effort but the flat pitch undermined his intent.
The small crowd was then treated to some creamy drives by the Indian batsmen.
Gambhir belted ten boundaries in the session. He started off tentatively against the short-pitched bowling from Mortaza, but a pull shot off the bowler to a ball that came at a comfortable height saw the left-hander launch into the Bangladesh attack.
Though Sehwag must be lamenting his missed opportunity, his fellow Delhi opener more than made up for his absence. Gambhir is not as cavalier as Sehwag and his shots are more classical, but the effect is almost the same.
He looked in good nick even in the first Test in Dhaka and was unfortunate to get run out in the match.
In one over from Hossain, he cracked four beautiful boundaries. He started off with a cut through point, smoothed two through cover and capped them with another back foot drive beside point. With another two in the next over, he raced away to 44 off 44 balls, hitting six fours in eight balls.
Rahul Dravid seemed to have broken his shell after one glimpse at the uninspiring bowling attack and the batsman-friendly track. He complimented Gambhir for off-side play, producing an elegant mix of back-foot punches and cover drives.
The experienced Mohammed Rafique was the only one who gave Bangladesh a whiff of a chance. Dravid, trying to tap the ball in front, sent it popping in the air just past the fielder at silly point.
The first ball of the next over saw an easier chance being let down. Gambhir sliced a ball from Rafique to Manjural Rana in first slip when on 44, but the fielder removed his eyes off the ball and let the ball slip through his fingers.
Apart from the few anxious moments, the Indian batsmen weren't bothered much. The ball was coming nicely on to the bat and Gambhir and Dravid gave a display of classy, fluent batsmanship in the first session.
Gambhir reached his fifty with a cut over point and finished the morning session at 56 from 73 balls.
Post-Lunch session
Resuming at 106/1 in 28 overs, Gambhir and Dravid continued from where they had left off. In the first fifteen overs of the session, the home bowlers went for 60 runs.
If it wasn't for the quality of the batting, the match would've bored with its monotony. The Bangladesh bowlers kept bowling innocuous stuff and the Indian batsmen picked out the most graceful weapons from their arsenal to make the destruction look attractive.
Gambhir quickly went through the nineties with two boundaries and stroked the ball from Rana just wide of mid-on in the 49th over to bring up maiden first Test century. He squinted up at the skies, mumbled and acknowledged the applause from the dressing room.
His scored his first ton in only his fifth Test after coming tantalizingly close to getting one against South Africa in Kanpur. At that time, he was unlucky to be dismissed for 96.
This time, he showed no signs of pressure as he raced past the nineties to the three-figure mark. The ball he faced after scoring the ton was sent to the fine-leg boundary. A flurry of fours ensured he never stopped smiling from thereon.
Dravid was more selective in his shots in the post-lunch session. Scoring at a steady rate of a run every two balls, he reached his fifty. The Indian vice-captain was less expressive than his younger partner, in no hurry and yet kept the scoreboard ticking.
Bangladesh looked short on experience as well as innovation. The field placing was unimaginative and bowling ineffective. The Indians weren't going to miss the chance. Gambhir and Dravid pierced the field regularly. India's 200 came in the 51st over.
Dravid went from 91 to 99 in two strikes but was unable to reach three figures when tea was called. He hit a beautiful boundary, between mid-on and bowler to take his score to 99. Even with seventeen centuries against his name, Dravid was extra-concsious taking his time to get that one run. He has been left stranded in the 90s seven times.
At tea, he had scored 99 runs in 193 balls with the help of 13 fours.
The left-right hand batting combination constructed a partnership of 223 from 346 balls. Gambhir was unbeaten on 127, which comprised 19 hits to the fence.
Post-Tea session
India came out from the tea break anticipating another hundred from a man who has spent most part his life rescuing India from desperate situations. Every player deserves a few easy days, and none more than Rahul Dravid.
When Talha Jubair served a short ball outside the off stump, he promptly drove off the back-foot to the cover-point boundary to bring up his 18th Test century. With that Dravid also became the only batsman in Test history to score a hundred in all the ten Test playing nations.
Dravid and Gambhir went past another milestone after they added 15 runs to the score after tea. Their unbeaten partnership of 238 was the second highest at one wicket down for India on foreign soil. They beat Pankaj Roy and Vijay Manjrekar's tally of 237 runs against the West Indies in Jamaica in 1953.
Shortly after Dravid went past the three-figure mark, he flashed at a delivery off Mohammed Rafique that narrowly missed the fingers of an outstretched Habibul Bashar at first slip.
The Bangladesh bowlers were hardly threatening, and the team, with an average experience of just about 14 matches, looked lost for direction. Though the team put a far better fielding effort in this match, once Dravid and Gambhir piled on the runs, heads started to drop.
Gambhir fell to his audacity clipping a ball from 17-year-old debutant Nazmul Hossain on the stump while attempting a pull. (273 for 2).
The left-hander scored a pretty 139 (196b, 19x4) and had added 259 runs with Dravid.
But his dismissal did not lift the Bangladesh team's spirits too high. Out walked Sachin Tendulkar, who receives a vociferous ovation everywhere in the world, to join Rahul Dravid.
Dravid, comfortably past his hundred, began quickening his stride. The fours were flowing in more frequently, and the Bangladeshi bowlers were toyed with on the leg-side.
Tendulkar only rubbed it in. He began with a picturesque cover drive followed by a clip off the pads for four.
A phase of three overs saw a few edgy moments. Dravid took a huge stride ahead and tried to paddle sweep a ball not quite up there, Tendulkar fished a couple from Mortaza and the ball kept low on some occasions.
Mortaza was again the one bowler who kept a tidy length and troubled the Indian batsmen with the short ball. Though he had only a wicket to his name, he commanded some respect from the batsmen and conceded only 38 runs in 16 overs.
Hossain and Talha Jubair, playing only his second Test match, were treated shabbily. Jubair was hit for five boundaries in two consecutive overs and conceded 72 runs in 14 overs. Hossain, not used to the pressure of international cricket, walked off with an ankle strain in his 17th over.
Mohammed Rafique was inconsistent and Aftab Ahmed irrelevant. The spin attack, with both Rafique and Manjural Rana bowling slow left arm, was one-dimensional.
The Indian batsmen made the most of the toothless bowling line-up and raced to 334 for 2.
Dravid middled 91% of the balls and finished the day on 145 (from 275 balls) with the help of 21 fours. He played a role in another sizable partnership, adding 61 runs with Tendulkar.
Tendulkar was not out on 36 (6x4) from 54 balls.
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